Obama announces executive action on immigration reform

President Barack Obama announced Monday his own plans to take executive action on stalled efforts for immigration reform in the United States.

“Today I’m beginning a new effort to fix America’s immigration system on my own,” announced Obama from the White House’s rose garden to a crowd of reporters.

He expressed his frustration with the immigration reform bill that was passed bey Senate but continues to stall in the Republican led House of Representatives, which hasn’t voted on the bill. Citing frustrations with illegal immigration, and most recently the unaccompanied minors who have arrived this year without documentation by the thousands, Obama says he has called for the help of several federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.

“It’s what the Senate bill would fix if our House would let it come to a vote,” Obama said, pointing to a majority of US voters who he says support comprehensive immigration reform.

President Obama also said he’s done waiting for Republicans to act on a bill and points the finger to those politicians who are catering to the Tea Party. Obama says there are enough Republicans and Democrats in the House to pass an immigration bill today, and says he would sign it.

But Obama says he’s waited for more than a year to give House Speaker John Boehner space to act. He says Boehner informed him last week that the House won’t vote on immigration this year.

Obama says the thousands of unaccompanied children showing up on the border underscore the need to drop the politics and act on immigration.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.

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