By ANTONY KARANJA in DALLAS, TEXAS

The White House has signaled that US President Obama will be expanding immigration rights by executive action by the end of summer.

An official said Friday that Obama is mulling an option to grant temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who are parents of US born children allowing them to work and live legally in the country. This option is expected to affect about 5 million illegal immigrants.

Another option being mulled by the White House is to allow temporary legal status for the parents of young people already granted deportation deferrals by the Obama administration. That would affect about 520,000 people.

According to White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s plans will shield about 5 million who entered the county without legal authorization and those who have overstayed their visas.

This expected action comes as Obama seeks ways to end the crisis of immigrant children arriving at the Southwest border. He is expected to use executive authority to expedite deportations of the Central American children flooding the borders.

Obama said last month that because Congress had failed to act on comprehensive immigration reform, he would take executive action to “fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own.”

When the decision is announced, it will “increase the angry reactions from Republicans,” Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer said that he believes Republicans might try to impeach Obama over those moves adding that House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) had “opened the door to impeachment” by his plans to sue Obama for allegedly exceeding his executive authority.

Pfeiffer made his comments at a breakfast for reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.