The White House this week cited a 1986 immigration legislation that granted amnesty to many undocumented immigrants without accounting for their spouses or children, to justify its own plans to issue an executive order on immigration.

The reference was to executive orders by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, where family members who did not meet the requirements did not qualify for amnesty, regardless of their situation.

"Pres. Reagan used his exec authority to fix probs in the immigration sys. So did Bush 41. Obama will too -- this year," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said via Twitter on Monday morning.

In 1987, Reagan's White House announced deportation protection for minor children of parents granted amnesty by the law, according to the New York Post. In 1990, Bush signed an order implementing a Senate bill assisting up to 1.5 million spouses and children.

But in the current Congress, House Republicans never took up an immigration bill.

President Barack Obama is in the process of acting on his own to protect about 5 million undocumented immigrants while some Republicans are threatening a government shutdown if he acts as expected.

Meanwhile, Oregon voters decided to cancel a new state law that would have provided driver's licenses to many undocumented immigrants.

Currently, 12 states have already granted driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants and 17 allow them to pay in-state tuition at public universities.

"The Oregon measure tells you these measures are not easy or simple," Muzaffar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute told Fox News Latino. "The political cost may be significant, even in blue states."

The president said he has to act on his own because Congress has deadlocked on immigration for years.

According to polling for the Associated Press and other news organizations, many people are for allowing legalization to undocumented immigrants. Fifty-seven percent of the conservative-leaning national electorate voted in favor of legalization Nov. 4.

Since the Latino and Asian populations account for an increasing share of the electorate, immigration reform usually is seen as a winning issue for Democrats.