XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: taco@times.com   
      
   President Obama has abandoned his pledge to reform U.S.   
   immigration policy by the end of summer and will instead wait   
   until after the November congressional elections, The Associated   
   Press reports Saturday.   
      
   Obama concluded that using executive action to circumvent   
   Congress during the campaign season would politicize the issue   
   and future hurt efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform.   
      
   The decision is welcome news for Democratic senators trying to   
   win reelection in conservative states -- and help their party   
   fend off a strong GOP effort to take control of the upper   
   chamber.   
      
   However, the delay is also a setback for immigration reform   
   advocates, including Big Business and liberals.   
      
   The White House officials told the wire service, on the   
   condition of anonymity, that Obama made his decision Friday as   
   he returned to Washington from a NATO summit in Wales.   
      
   They said Obama called a few allies from Air Force One and   
   informed them of his decision, and that the president made more   
   calls from the White House on Saturday.   
      
   The officials said Obama had no specific timeline to act, but   
   that he still would take his executive steps before the end of   
   the year.   
      
   In a Rose Garden speech on June 30, Obama said he had directed   
   Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General   
   Eric Holder to give him recommendations for executive action by   
   the end of summer. Obama also pledged to "adopt those   
   recommendations without further delay."   
      
   Many conservatives and other Obama critics though Obama would   
   act while Congress was on August break.   
      
   But White House aides repeated said in the weeks before Labor   
   Day, the unofficial end of summer, the recommendations were   
   still forthcoming, which created speculation that Obama was   
   waiting until Sept. 21, the official end of summer.   
      
   Obama faced competing pressures from immigration advocacy groups   
   that wanted prompt action and from Democrats worried that acting   
   now would energize Republican opposition against vulnerable   
   Senate Democrats. Among those considered most at risk were   
   Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of   
   Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.   
      
   Republicans need to win a net total of six seats to take control   
   of the Senate.   
      
   Obama advisers were not convinced that any presidential action   
   would affect the elections. But the officials said the   
   discussions around the timing grew more pronounced within the   
   past few weeks.   
      
   Ultimately, the advisers drew a lesson from 1994 when Democratic   
   losses were blamed on votes for gun control legislation,   
   undermining any interest in passing future gun measures.   
      
   White House officials said aides realized that if Obama's   
   immigration action was deemed responsible for Democratic losses   
   this year, it could hurt any attempt to pass a broad overhaul   
   later.   
      
   The Democrat-controlled Senate has passed comprehensive   
   immigration-reform legislation, largely on what to do about the   
   roughly 11 million people now living illegally in the United   
   States.   
      
   However, the Republican-control House has delay such a vote, in   
   large part over concerns about first securing the southern U.S.   
   border.   
      
   House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, informed Obama earlier this   
   year that the House would not act in 2014. That led Obama to   
   declare he would act on his own.   
      
   In recent months, partisan fighting erupted over how to address   
   the increased flow of unaccompanied minors from Central America   
   at the U.S. border with Mexico. The officials said the White   
   House had not envisioned such a battle when Obama made his   
   pledge June 30.   
      
   Obama asked for $3.7 billion to address the border crisis. The   
   House, however, passed a measure that gave Obama only a fraction   
   of what he sought and made it easier to deport the young   
   migrants arriving at the border, a provision opposed by   
   Democrats and immigration advocates. In the end, Congress   
   adjourned without a final bill.   
      
   The number of minors caught alone illegally crossing the Mexican   
   border into the United States has been declining since June.   
   That decrease and Congress' absence from Washington during   
   August has taken attention away from the border for now.   
      
   Still, the dispute over how to deal with the surge of Central   
   American border crossers threatened to spill over into the   
   larger debate over immigration and the fate of the millions of   
   immigrants in the United States who either entered illegally or   
   overstayed their visas and have been in the U.S. for some time.   
      
   During a news conference Friday in Wales, Obama reiterated his   
   determination to act on his own even as he avoided making a   
   commitment on timing. He also spelled out ambitious objectives   
   for his executive actions.   
      
   Obama said that without legislation from Congress, he would take   
   steps to increase border security, upgrade the processing of   
   border crossers and encourage legal immigration. He also said he   
   would offer immigrants who have been illegally in the United   
   States for some time a way to become legal residents, pay taxes,   
   pay a fine and learn English.   
      
   "I want to be very clear: My intention is, in the absence of ...   
   action by Congress, I'm going to do what I can do within the   
   legal constraints of my office, because it's the right thing to   
   do for the country," he said.   
      
   The extent of Obama's authority is a matter of debate among   
   legal experts and in Congress. Some Democrats say it would be   
   best for Obama to let Congress act.   
      
   But pro-immigrant groups called on Obama to stick to his end-of-   
   summer deadline, and weighed in with a strongly worded appeal to   
   him on Friday.   
      
   "Being a leader requires making difficult and courageous   
   decisions," said the letter, whose signers included the National   
   Council of La Raza and the League of United Latin American   
   Citizens. "It is your time to lead, Mr. President."   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/06/obama-to-reportedly-   
   delay-any-executive-action-on-immigration-until-after/   
      
       
      
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