The growing political momentum towards an overhaul of America’s immigration laws has stalled again as the Republican Speaker of the House conceded that it was unlikely he could pass new legislation.
Just one week after indicating that Republicans in the House of Representatives might be willing to reform immigration laws to offer legal status to 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, said his party colleagues were unlikely to pass a Bill.
Mr Boehner blamed the distrust of the Obama administration for the reversal. Mr Obama has recently threatened to use executive action to achieve his policy goals without the support of Congress.
Implementation concerns
"The American people, including many of my members, don't trust that the reform that we're talking about will be implemented as it was intended to be," he said, noting the executive actions taken by Mr Obama changing or delaying the president's healthcare law so despised by Republicans.
"One of the casualties of Obamacare is it makes it hard for politicians to do big things," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina. "They're complicated to administer, and the president has shown a willingness to unilaterally change provisions that are politically harmful."
The Speaker was commenting publicly for the first time since producing a one-page list of Republican "standards" on which the party might agree a deal on immigration reform at a party retreat last week. The Democrat-led Senate has already passed a cross-party immigration reform bill.
His decision to place the burden for immigration reform back on the president reflects the increasing opposition Mr Boehner faces from far-right conservatives, most notably the hardline Tea Party faction.
Senior Republicans; Congressman Paul Ryan, the 2012 vice-presidential candidate; and the party's Senate leader Mitch McConnell, had played down the prospect of an immigration reform deal in a deeply partisan US Congress.
The Speaker said he had "never underestimated" the difficulty passing the legislation this year. Many Republicans are avoiding taking a stance on legislation as they face conservative challengers in primary ballots ahead of November's mid-term congressional elections.
Obstacle to Irish
Mr Boehner's comments are a setback for Irish immigration advocates who have pressed Congress to introduce laws to put tens of thousands of illegal Irish on a path to citizenship and to tack about 10,500 "E3" working visas for new Irish immigrants on to any proposed immigration legislation.
Ciaran Staunton, co-founder of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, said the Speaker's comments were more "political posturing". He believes Republicans must tackle immigration reform if they are to win back the influential Hispanic vote and regain the White House.
“The American people want it, the Democrats support but the Republicans need it,” he said. “We know there are issues for Republicans other than saying that the president cannot be trusted, but we hear privately from Republican Congressmen that this one of the teeth that needs to be pulled.”
