A leaked internal memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the Obama administration is trying to circumvent a federal court injunction on its immigration executive orders that were issued last November.
The memo, according to The Hill, appears to re-ignite concerns about undocumented immigrants in the US in Congress and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Obama administration has been criticised for giving out work permits to undocumented immigrants in violation of a Texas district court order.
The appeals court is weighing in on the court decision.
After Texas Judge Andrew Hanen froze the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) and Expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programmes, DHS' policy makers held a "Regulation Retreat" to discuss options for open market Employment Authorisation Document (EAD) regulatory changes.
The internal DHS memo showed four options including giving out EADs' to "all individuals living in the United States", including undocumented immigrants, visa-overstayers, and H-1B guest-workers.
Option 4 provides EADs only to people with unexpired non-immigrant visas.
"Giving EADs to any of the covered individuals, however, is in direct violation of Congress's Immigration and Nationality Act and works to dramatically subvert our carefully wrought visa system," The Hill said.
Option 1 that gives out EADs to all present in the US will "address the needs of some of the intended deferred action population," the memo read.
Those covered would be about 4.3 million people under the DAPA and expanded DACA programmes whose benefits were supposed to have been cut off by Hanen's ruling.
The DHS plan will also issue unrestricted EADs to those on temporary non-immigrant visa such as H-1B holders and another 5 to 6 million undocumented immigrants who are not covered by the President's deferred action programmes.
The memo shows that the Obama administration "now claims unprecedented discretionary power to permit anyone inside our borders to work," The Hill said.
One negative factor in granting EADs to undocumented immigrants and visa overstayers is that they will still "face difficulties in pursuing permanent residence due to ineligibility or being subject to unlawful presence inadmissibility for which a waiver is required."
The DHS' goal, according to The Hill, is to help individuals to stay "until they are ready and able to become immigrants."
