Obama to reportedly delay executive action on immigration until after elections

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.

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