President Obama has ruled out halting the deportation of the undocumented immigrant parents of children granted a reprieve last year. Under its deferred action program, the White House has suspended the deportations of young immigrants who were brought to the United States at an early age and have lived without legal status. But speaking to Telemundo, Obama said it would be too extreme a measure to grant the same relief to their parents.

President Obama: “What we can do is then carve out the DREAM Act folks, saying young people who have basically grown up here are Americans that we should welcome. We’re not going to have them operate under a cloud, under a shadow. But if we start broadening that, then essentially I would be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally. So that’s not an option.”

Immigrant rights groups have called on Obama to issue an executive order sparing undocumented parents should Congress fail to approve immigration reform this year. The United States has deported a record number of undocumented immigrants under Obama’s watch. In a statement, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said: “Unless the President alters course, he risks cementing his legacy as having presided over the most anti-immigrant administration in history.”