John Boehner Retreats, Says Immigration Reform Not Likely Soon

Whatever chance was left for passing comprehensive immigration reform, whether through sweeping legislation or piecemeal bills, was hit with a bucket of cold water by Republicans on Thursday.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner dropped the entire prospect of passing any significant legislation on the issue of immigration reform in the House of Representatives. Boehner's retreat on immigration reform comes less than a week after he released a list of "principles" of immigration reform from House Republicans.

"There's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws, and it's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes," Boehner told reporters on Thursday, according to USA Today, adding that President Barack Obama is "running around the country telling everyone that he's going to keep acting on his own...And he's feeding more distrust about whether he's committed to the rule of law."

Fellow Republican, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, claimed differences between the House and Senate's versions of immigration reform were not conducive to moving forward presently.

"He has not said, 'I'm not doing it.' He has not said, 'It's over.' He has said it will be very difficult. It is--he's right, I agree with him," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who remains optimistic that movement in the House is not yet dead in the water. "I believe there's a good portion of the Republican leadership who wants to do a bill," he said.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has said that he believes a majority of House Republicans know within themselves that immigration reform is the "right thing to do," and defended in a recent press conference the president's prerogative to act on executive order when congress is stonewalling progress. Obama specifically called out legislative inaction in his recent State of the Union address.

"What we saw last year was a Washington that did not deliver for the American people," Carney said, according to The Wall Street Journal. "And the president sees this as a year of action, to work with Congress where he can, and to bypass Congress where necessary to lift folks who want to come up into the middle class."

"We're actually optimistic that 2014 will be the year that Congress delivers to the president's desk a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill that meets the principles he laid out and that he can sign into law."