Obama will take executive action on immigration reform

WASHINGTON (WLS) -- In an address from the White House Rose Garden Monday afternoon, President Obama said he will use executive action to begin the process of immigration reform after being informed by House speaker John Boehner that House Republicans will not allow a vote on immigration reform this year.

"I take executive action only when we have a serious problem, a serious issue, and Congress chooses to do nothing," Obama said. "And in this situation, the failure of House Republicans to pass a darn bill is bad for our security, it's bad for our economy and it's bad for our future."

Obama said he is directing Department of Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder to move all available and appropriate resources from the interior to the border to address the recent influx, which he called a "humanitarian crisis," of unaccompanied children from Central America arriving at the U.S. border. He will also ask Secretaries Johnson and Holder to identify additional actions the administration can take, legally, on its own to fix as much of the immigration system as possible.

He also said he is putting his diplomatic power to work on the problem as well. Vice President Joe Biden met with Central American leaders to discuss how to stem the flow of unaccompanied children being trafficked and smuggled into the U.S. recently, and Obama said that Secretary of State John Kerry will be meeting with leaders tomorrow.

Obama said he decided to bypass Congress after House speaker John Boehner informed him last week that the House would not vote on an immigration overhaul this year. A congressional leadership aide said Obama and Boehner spoke privately before an event last week at the white House honoring U.S. golfers who won last year's Presidents Cup.

The president repeatedly chastised Congress, especially congressional Republicans, for failing to take action on immigration reform in the course of the last year.

"As we speak, there are enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass the bill today," he said, referencing the immigration reform bill drafted by the Senate last year, "and I would sign it into law today. But for more than a year, Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to allow an up or down vote on that Senate bill or any legislation to fix our broken immigration system."

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

"They are using the situation with these children as their excuse to do nothing," he said. "Their argument is that because the system is broken, we shouldn't make an effort to fix it."

In responding to the influx of unaccompanied children, Obama plans to concentrate immigration resources on the border areas. The move will effectively further reduce the number of deportations in the country's interior by stressing enforcement action on individuals who are either recent unlawful border crossers or who present a national security, public safety, or border security threat.

The Associated Press contributed to this report