If Raul Montes Jr. had his way, President Obama would have already used his executive powers to enact comprehensive immigration reform. He was anticipating, however, that the president would do that Thursday night, and would thereby help an estimated 5.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

Montes is a Chicago community activist and candidate for alderman in the 22nd Ward. He was born and raised in the community he hopes to represent after the February election.

Montes spoke at Yolanda’s Restaurant in Little Village Thursday noon about how the expected comprehensive immigration reform announcement would help his would-be constituents.

He is running his grassroots campaign the same way he advocates for the undocumented immigrants living in his neighborhood. Montes said he is knocking on doors in Little Village, a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, and registering people to vote.

Little Village is a mostly Hispanic neighborhood that has not been widely gentrified. Many residents have a special interest in President Obama’s reform announcement. An estimated two-thirds of undocumented immigrants living in the United States are from Mexico and Central America, according to a report by Pew Research.

Residents statewide have also have a stake in tonight’s announcement. Illinois is among the top states that would have a high population affected by an immigration reform announcement. Illinois is the fourth most immigrant-populated state in the United States, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

“The president’s plan to go it alone would be something that would benefit many in the country and stimulate the economy,” Montes said.

There were an estimated 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States as of 2012, according to a report released today by Pew Research.

The chef at Yolanda’s Restaurant is one of them.

Leonardo Castro is an undocumented immigrant who came to Chicago alone in 2000 when he was 13 years old. He’s now 26 and would have been eligible to apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — had he been more informed.

DACA has been in place since 2012. As of July only 55 percent of those who meet the DACA criteria have applied for the temporary relief of deportation, according to MPI. Many factors play a role in why people are apprehensive to enroll in the program, including a lack of information, the cost of the application process, and fear of self-identifying as undocumented.

Fear of deportation kept Castro from learning more about DACA, he said. He left Mexico and traveled to Chicago alone seeking a better life. He said the most difficult part about his journey was when he arrived in Chicago, because he had no family in the city to lean on. He said the hardest part about living here now is “fear of being reported to immigration.”

Deportations of undocumented immigrants reached a record high in 2013, according to Pew Research.

Castro is one of the estimated 280,000 undocumented immigrants in Illinois who would be eligible for the anticipated Deferred Action expansion and DACA programs.

“This is a country that was built on immigrants and we’re pushing forward to see if the President can announce something that will benefit them,” Montes said.

President Obama was scheduled to make his announcement tonight at 7 p.m. CST.

The majority of Latinos still vote Democratically, however there has been a significant decrease in Latino Democratic voters since 2010.

President Barack Obama and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) agree on one thing: No legislation will be passed by 2016 without bipartisan compromise.

But on Wednesday, just one day after the midterm elections that gave Senate control to the GOP come January, President Obama furthered the divide between Republicans and Democrats in Washington by renewing the vow he made in September to reform immigration policy by the end of the year, by executive action if necessary.

Obama said in a news conference Wednesday he is still committed to working toward making life better for undocumented immigrants by decreasing deportations, granting work permits and improving border security.

“It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull,” McConnell said in his first news conference as future Senate Majority Leader.

McConnell said that if Obama exercises executive powers to reform immigration it would tarnish the relationship he’s attempting to build between the President and the Republican-controlled House and Senate come January.

“It’s an issue a lot of my members want to address legislatively,” McConnell said Wednesday.

McConnell was speaking for Republican constituents as well as his political peers. William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, agrees with McConnell. He said if Obama announces immigration reform without Congress’s approval, he “plan[s] to peacefully but physically intervene” by staging protests and “60s style sit-ins” at places that support reform.

Americans for Legal Immigration is a super PAC that has spent $252,017 promoting its agenda this year. ALIPAC supports legal immigration but does not support amnesty, visa expansion, or a visiting worker program for undocumented immigrants, according to their website.

Gheen said ALIPAC’s supporters would rather Congress focus on enforcing and strengthening the U.S. southern border.

“I cannot think of a more important issue than immigration,” Gheen said Wednesday.

The dispute over reform has people on both sides of the issue dismayed. Immigrant advocacy groups fear that Obama’s announcement won’t be enough to help the majority of undocumented people living in the U.S.

“I don’t think it’s going to be anything major,” said Luis Gutierrez, director of Latinos Progresando, an advocacy group that provides low-cost legal services as well as community engagement and education amenities to immigrants in Chicago. Gutierrez is not related to U.S. Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL).

He said Wednesday he expects that the President’s announcement will help those who have not committed a crime and have been in the country for longer than 10 years or have a child who is a U.S. citizen, but “many people will feel left out,” he said.

Gutierrez grew up in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, where Latinos Progresando is now located. It’s a predominantly Latino neighborhood that has a high population of immigrants.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has estimated that 10.8 million undocumented immigrants lived in the United States as of January 2010 — an estimated 490,000 of those undocumented immigrants live in Illinois.

Gutierrez said his community is hoping for the announcement to allow access to work permits and travel for undocumented immigrants. “That would be a fantastic thing,” he said.

Obama’s Latino constituents are angry with him for delaying immigration reform until after the midterm elections. When the President announced the delay in September, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) urged Obama not to wait.

“Keeping the fear of deportation hovering over immigrant communities like Pilsen and Little Village in my district in Chicago has a damaging impact on the fabric of our community,” the Congressman said on the floor of the House of Representatives in September.Gutierrez from Latinos Progresando agrees with the Congressman, “Fear of deportation causes extreme hardship,” he said.

As a result he said Latinos could change their voting habits. Historically most Latinos vote for Democratic candidates. “They’re interested in somebody who’s going to get it done…[Latinos] are looking for a candidate that is talking about reform,” Latinos Progresando Director Gutierrez said.

Rep. Gutiérrez said in September that Obama had decided that “going big, going broad, and going quickly after Election Day is the right decision.”

In an opinion piece for the Guardian Wednesday, Rep. Gutierrez wrote that President Obama should use his executive powers to address immigration policy and deportation. “I will hold President Obama to his promise on doing what he can towards fixing our broken immigration system.

“In a few weeks, a new do-nothing Congress will replace the current do-nothing Congress, but not much will change on the immigration issue,” he wrote. “The Senate passed bipartisan legislation that would have addressed a broad range of fixes for the nation’s immigration system, but that legislation will die once the new Congress is sworn in.”

The reform announcement is expected by early December, but President Obama said if Congress can work together to produce a bill, then he wouldn’t be forced to act alone.

“I have no doubt that there will be some Republicans who are angered or frustrated by any executive action that I may take,” Obama said Wednesday.

If Obama uses executive action, Republicans have threatened impeachment and said bipartisan legislation on other issues would be unlikely.

“Those are folks, I just have to say, who are also deeply opposed to immigration reform, in any form, and blocked the House from being able to pass a bipartisan bill,” Obama said Wednesday.