Obama pledges to redirect immigration enforcement, conceding Congress won’t act - The action — intended to help stem a recent influx of minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally — could also pave the way for Obama to enact measures to slow or postpone the deportations of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for years.

From The Washington Post:

President Obama angrily conceded Monday that Congress will not overhaul immigration laws this year and announced that he will redirect immigration enforcement efforts to the border.

The action — intended to help stem a recent influx of minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally — could also pave the way for Obama to enact measures to slow or postpone the deportations of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for years.

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, Obama said he will pursue executive actions by the end of summer to “fix as much of our immigration system as we can. If Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours.”

Obama did not provide specifics in his remarks. But advocates who met with the president said Obama told them he would build off a 2012 decision to defer the deportations of young people brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats and activists have called on him to dramatically expand that program, and Obama has ordered aides to review his legal options.

Obama vowed to take action after House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told him last week that there would not be an immigration vote in the House this year. The president, pointing to a bipartisan Senate deal on immigration approved in 2013, chided House Republicans as bowing to extremist pressures in their party rather than pursuing changes backed by most Americans.