Under President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions, U.S. immigration agents have been instructed to ask apprehended undocumented immigrants if they might qualify for his deferred action programs.

Citing internal training materials, The Associated Press said agents were ordered to identify detained immigrants eligible for Obama's executive action plans as eligible individuals that could be released. Prior to the executive actions, immigrants or their legal counsel were responsible for determining if they qualified for any programs to stay in the U.S.

The internal training materials applied to two of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's immigration agencies -- the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- and instructed agents to determine the eligible status for current detained and newly apprehended immigrants.

Immigration agents were also provided with a checklist and details on how to proceed with such undocumented immigrants. The checklist would help determine immigrants' eligibility for the deferred action programs.

As Latin Post reported, Obama announced new and expanded deferred action programs for approximately 4.9 million eligible undocumented immigrants to temporarily avoid deportation. One program is the creation of the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), which allows undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to apply for a three-year stay in the U.S. and obtain a work permit.

Must Read: Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), Details on Who's Included & Excluded - What You Need To Know

DAPA comes following the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was created in June 2012 and expanded during the Nov. 20 prime time address. The expanded DACA rules would allow undocumented immigrant youths who have been in the U.S. before Jan. 1, 2010, to stay in the U.S. for a renewable three-year period. With DACA, approximately 1.7 million immigrant youths were projected to be eligible for the deferred action program, but based on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency data, nearly 610,000 people have successfully applied. The USCIS is responsible for handling DACA and DAPA applications.

The Mexican government is also providing assistance for eligible undocumented immigrants to use the deferred action programs. Fifty Mexican consulates are providing Mexican nationals in the U.S. a copy of their birth certificate without the need to travel south.

The Mexican Embassy made it clear that the ability to obtain the birth certificates could be a "great assistance" for Mexicans wanting to benefit from Obama's immigration executive actions. With the birth certificates, Mexicans will be able to seek other official documents such as a Mexican passport or an identification card. With the identification, undocumented Mexican citizens living in the U.S. could apply for the DACA or DAPA programs.

As the CBP noted, most apprehended undocumented immigrants have come from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Accounting for only unaccompanied undocumented immigrant minors below the age of 17 years old, the CBP has encountered 8,010 children since Oct. 1, 2014, along the U.S.-Mexico border. Undocumented immigrants who have entered the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2010, are not eligible for the deferred action programs.

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