Obama Moving on Immigration ‘Fairly Soon’

By Aura Bogado Sep 05, 2014

President Obama is once again hinting that he’ll move forward on some kind of executive action on immigration before the end of summer.

Just a week ago, the president suggested he wouldn’t take action to provide relief for some of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States before November’s election. But it’s possible Obama’s changed his mind yet again.

Speaking to reporters in Wales at the conclusion of the NATO summit, Obama said he’s busy dealing with several crises–but that he’ll start reviewing suggestions from Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on immigration on his flight back to the States. In a now familiar sentiment, Obama also took the opportunity to once again deride Republican lawmakers for not taking action on a comprehensive immigration reform bill:

That has damaged the economy, it has held America back, it is a mistake. And in the absence of congressional action, I intend to take action to make sure that we’re putting more resources on the border, that we’re upgrading how we process these cases, and that we find a way to encourage legal immigration and give people some path so that they can start paying taxes and pay a fine and learn English and be able to not look over their shoulder but be legal, since they’ve been living here for quite some time.

Although Obama said that he’d be "making an announcement soon," he has yet to set a date.