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Like Hamlet pacing the stage in angst-ridden doubt, Speaker John Boehner this week delivered the message that immigration reform is dead for 2014. Its not that he doesnt realize the issue is important. Its not that he doesnt believe our current immigration system is broken. Its just that hed rather suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than take arms to end the sea of troubles brewing in the Republican Party.

Boehner blames President Obama for his troubles. And he has a point up to a point.

Republicans dont trust that the president will actually enforce a new law that includes stronger border security. Indeed, the president already has shown hes happy to ignore pesky provisions of laws with which he doesnt agree think not only his manipulation of Obamacare but also his decision to ignore federal drug statutes on marijuana, to name only two examples.

So why would Republicans believe the president will enforce border security? Never mind that this administration has deported more illegal immigrants than any administration in modern history: two million people. The AFL-CIO and other immigrant advocacy groups want the president to stop all future deportations until a new law is passed. Vice President Joe Biden has said the president wont accede to these demands, but his word isnt worth much in Republican circles.

But the bigger problem for Boehner and other Republicans who know that passing immigration reform is the right thing to do for the country is that they are afraid anti-immigrant groups with deep pockets will target them for defeat in their re-election bids.

This is a tragedy for the GOP. It speaks of a profound lack of true leadership and the decision endangers conservatism for future generations.

If the Republican Party becomes the party of nativists, it will die. If the GOP defines itself primarily by what it is against, it will lose Hispanics, but also young people, women, suburbanites and the business community.

Some argue that putting immigration reform on hold this year is the smart thing to do because the debate would become a distraction in an election that should focus on the disastrous failure of Obamacare. But that is true only if the tiny though influential group of anti-immigrant fanatics decide to make it so.

Right now these groups and individuals think they can blackmail the Republican leadership. You put immigration reform on the legislative agenda this year, and we will pack your townhall meetings, bombard your congressional offices with phone calls and letters and emails, and maybe even field primary opponents against you, they threaten.

But what if GOP leaders started speaking with one voice and said, No, we wont be blackmailed? Of course, it would take not only courage but also facts to take on the yahoos. They should start by acknowledging that securing our border requires more than fences, high-tech surveillance and deportations.

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Republicans foolishly give up on immigration reform | New ...

Speaker Boehner says that what's holding up immigration reform is a 'trust gap' with President Obama. But that doesn't mean the door is shut on action in the House, even in an election year.

Immigration reform, long stalled in theUS House, is coming down to this: Republicans don't trust President Obama to enforce immigration laws and won't act on new legislation until that trust gap narrows.

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On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio said that distrust is one of the biggest obstacles to getting reform done.There's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws," he said. "And it's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.

Democrats dubbed this new focus on "trust" a dodge to get around the fact that Boehner can't control his fractious caucus. But some close observers of Congress's difficult and protracted struggle over immigration debate see some promise in this turn in the debate.

For the first time in a very long time, policy differences are not at the heart of the immigration dispute at least among many Republicans in the House, where immigration reform hit a wall after the Senate passed a bipartisan bill last year.

In an aside, Mr. Boehner commented Thursday that Republicans by and large support principles that he released at a private GOP retreat for House members a week ago. Both the president and key Democrats in the House have expressed openness to the principles, which allow for a path to legal status for some 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, but no special path to citizenship.

That said, the trust issue is a mountainous obstacle, depending on whose trust the president needs to win. If trustees include the faction of Republicans who will never agree to immigration reform, who dislike Mr. Obama so intensely that they cant bring themselves to support anything he supports, then, no, he is unlikely to ever win their trust. But if it refers to the Republican leadership and if it is the leadership that is driving reform in the House it is not mission impossible, according to some observers.

Certainly, some Republicans, no matter what, say We cant trust this guy and we cant negotiate with him. But theyre not the head of the party and theyre not the kingmaker, says Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy and politics at Third Way, a moderate Democrat think tank. She, and others, can think of several ways that Mr. Obama can respond on the trust front.

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Immigration reform: Boehner says it's down to a matter of ...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

John King and a panel of top political reporters look at the prospects for immigration reform in an election year on "Inside Politics " on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Washington (CNN) -- Whatever you think of his politics, House Speaker John Boehner has a great sense of humor. So perhaps he won't mind the question framed this way: What happened, in the course of just one week, to make Speaker Boehner the Miss Emily Litella of immigration reform?

(If I have lost you already, take a moment and search the Web to understand the reference -- you won't regret it.)

"Never mind," was the trademark closing line of a character the late Gilda Radner made famous as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live." And "never mind," is what Speaker Boehner might just as well have said Thursday when he all but declared the immigration reform legislative debate dead for 2014.

"Listen, there's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws," Boehner told reporters, suggesting White House executive actions to change provisions of the health care law had many conservatives worried the administration wouldn't feel bound by any immigration legislation passed by Congress.

Citing that trust deficit, the Speaker added: "It's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes."

There is without a doubt deep mistrust of the Obama White House in the Republican congressional ranks.

But is that mistrust any greater than just a week ago? Of course not, and it was just a week ago that the same Speaker Boehner said this of the same immigration debate:

"This problem has been around for at least the last 15 years, it's been turned into a political football. I think it's unfair, so I think it's time to deal with it."

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Boehner says 'never mind' on immigration

WASHINGTON Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed a fix Sunday for Republicans who are blocking immigration reform because they dont trust President Obama to implement it fairly: Make the next president do it.

Theres a simple solution: Lets enact the law this year, but simply not let it actually start till 2017, after President Obamas term is over, Schumer (D-NY) said on NBCs Meet the Press.

Lets say to our Republican colleagues, You dont trust Obama? Enact the law now, but put it into effect in 2017 and we can get something real done for America, said Schumer, the third highest ranking Senate Democrat.

Schumer said that passing immigration reform will only get more difficult in 2015 and 2016 amid the presidential campaigns.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week said immigration reform likely wouldnt pass this year, mostly due to widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws.

Republicans fear that Obama, who has selective implemented provisions of ObamaCare, will ignore border security and interior enforcement measures, while granting legal status to millions of undocumented residents.

Boehners office bristled at Schumers plan.

The suggestion is entirely impractical, since it would totally eliminate the Presidents incentive to enforce immigration law for the remainder of his term, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told The Post.

House Republicans last week came up with an outline for immigration reform that was heavy on tough border security and interior enforcement.

They also endorsed legal status for Americans estimated 12 million undocumented residents, stopping short of the 13-year path to citizenship endorsed by Obama and included in a bipartisan Senate bill passed last year.

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Schumer proposes delay for blocked immigration reform

House GOP immigration reform calls for strict border control
Congress is squabbling over immigration reform standards. The House GOP calls for tighter border security and a zero tolerance policy for those who cross the border illegally; however, Democrats...

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House GOP immigration reform calls for strict border control - Video