Obama wants to take immigration into his own hands…eventually

President Obama’s legal team has spent months examining ways he can rework immigration policy through executive action.

The White House had said Obama would act by the end of the summer, but some reports now say he may delay any changes in immigration policies until after the November midterm elections.

For immigrant-rights supporters, any postponement might spark worries the president won’t follow through with any proposals, leaving the issue on hold until after the 2016 presidential election. Although the top Republican in the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), said on Wednesday his party might be able to pass an immigration bill in the coming year, Tea Party-aligned lawmakers have signalled they would likely thwart any effort to aid the 11 million undocumented immigrants estimated to be living in the U.S.

With a legislative fix appearing unlikely, it’s now up to the president.

Andy is a graphics editor and cartoonist at Fusion.

Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction.