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By Suzanne Gamboa

A co-founder of the Tea Party Express announced support for immigration reform Wednesday.

Sal Russo, co-founder of the organization that uses national bus tours to spread its political views, said Wednesday "conservatives should be leaders in the immigration reform movement."

"There are so many bad ideas about immigration reform that too many conservatives have become satisfied with just saying no The time has come for conservatives to step up and be leaders," he said in a call with reporters. Russo also expressed his support in an opinion article.

Russo said he wants to change the vocabulary on the issue because conservatives equate immigration reform with "amnesty." "We need to get conservatives to the (House) floor. Too many conservatives have not been," Russo said.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., immediately lauded Russo in a statement. "It is clear that conservatives understand that we cannot continue to have a system with porous borders that hurts our economy and threatens our national security interests," said Diaz-Balart, who has been trying to build support among his GOP colleagues.

Also Wednesday, the pro-immigration reform groups Partnership for a New American Economy and Americans for Tax Reform released a national survey of 400 Republican primary voters who identify with the Tea Party.

The survey found 71 percent thought Congress should act on immigration this year and 76 percent support improved border security and enforcement, as well as a way to let immigrants remain in the U.S.

Also, 70 percent support providing legal status or U.S. citizenship for immigrants illegally here. Sixty-nine percent said they'd support a candidate who backs broad reform.

The survey has a margin of error of 4.9 percent and was done May 9-12.

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Tea Party Leader Calls for Conservative-Led Immigration Reform

After months of being on the receiving end of criticism that theyre not doing enough on immigration, Senate Democrats are aggressively pushing the focus back to House Republicans.

Liberal activists and lawmakers have largely concentrated on President Barack Obama recently, urging his administration to ease deportations. Now, some of those same voices are training their fire on the GOP lawmakers in the House taking seriously threats from congressional Republicans that major executive action could kill the prospects of reform altogether.

The rhetorical pressure was on full display Wednesday with twin speeches on the Senate floor, as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took turns blasting House Republicans for not moving on immigration reform so far this year and warning them that time is running out.

I want to be clear what our window is for the House to pass immigration reform it is the window between early June and the August recess, said Schumer, a member of the Senates Gang of Eight that produced a comprehensive reform bill that cleared the chamber nearly one year ago. If Speaker [John] Boehner, [Majority] Leader [Eric] Cantor and other Republican leaders refuse to schedule a vote on immigration reform during this window it will not pass until 2017 at the earliest.

(Also on POLITICO: Tea party leader backs immigration reform)

Reid noted that Wednesday marked 321 days since his chamber passed a sweeping comprehensive reform bill.

We need to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, he said. We can only do that if the Republicans in the House, led by Speaker Boehner, do the right thing.

The strategy reflects a renewed hope that at least some type of immigration reform legislation is still possible after the issue has stalled on Capitol Hill for the past year amid intense opposition from conservatives in the House.

Buzz about a potential reform effort is growing this week. Speaking in San Antonio on Monday, Boehner said he still wants to do immigration reform and noted that lawmakers in both parties are getting closer on the policy side.

But the window for a new law or even smaller pieces of a comprehensive bill is rapidly closing. Obama noted on Tuesday that lawmakers have just two, three months to get the ball rolling.

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House pressed on immigration

President Obama says the window for passing immigration reform legislation is rapidly closing as midterm elections approach. Will he go it alone if the House doesn't pick up the ball?

President Obama said Tuesday he is still holding out hope that Congress will find time to pass some form of immigration reform before politicians become completely consumed with the upcoming midterm elections.

Staff writer

Noelle Swan writes for the national news desk at the Monitor. She previously worked on the Business and Family pages as a writer and editor.

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"We've got this narrow window. The closer we get to the midterm elections, the harder it is to get things done around here," Mr. Obama said at a White House meeting of top law enforcement officials, Reuters reported. "We've got maybe a window ... of two, three months to get the ball rolling in the House of Representatives.

The president reiterated that he would be willing to accept a compromise as long as the bill that reaches his desk affords some path to citizenship.

The Senate passed immigration legislation 11 months ago with bipartisan support, but the House has yet to introduce a corresponding bill.

House Speaker John Boehner has chided fellow Republicans for not taking action on the issue.

Read more:
Immigration reform: Congress can still act before midterms, Obama says (+video)

(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jean Hill, government liaison for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, is joined by other area business leaders as she talks during a rally calling for Congress to enact immigration reform. The group of leaders held a press conference at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City, one of six press conferences happening at the same time in six Western states Tuesday, May 13, 2014.

Many immigration-reform rallies have crowds of immigrants pleading for a path to citizenship. A rally Tuesday at the state Capitol presented a different view, featuring business executives, big-name politicians, top clergy and law-enforcement officers.

But their message was the same: Congress should pass reform this summer, and it should include "creating a road to lawful status and citizenship" for undocumented immigrants.

"For too long, Congress has kicked the immigration can down the road," said Lane Beattie, president of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. "This is the time to act on immigration reform, not next year or after the next election."

Similar rallies Tuesday in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico urged House members from Rocky Mountain states to act on Senate-passed reform, and use solutions from the region to guide debate including the Utah Compact for civil dialogue, keeping families together and recognizing immigrants economic role.

"If conservatives would just reflect on those principles within the Utah Compact, they would be much more comfortable at handling comprehensive immigration reform," said Paul Mero, president of the conservative Sutherland Institute.

In Washington, President Barack Obama met with law-enforcement officials including former Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard, now executive director of the National Sheriffs Association ,and Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires to press for congressional action on immigration reform.

Speakers at the Utah rally spoke about how reform is needed to increase legal immigration quotas that local high-tech companies need to bring in talent; calm tension that worries police; and fulfill a moral obligation to help families.

"We have a serious talent shortage here in the state" among high-tech companies," said Richard Nelson, President & CEO of the Utah Technology Council. "Literally thousands of open positions are going unfilled in the range of $40,000 to $140,000 per job."

He said that make it difficult for local companies to expand and create more jobs. Todd Bingham, president of the Utah Manufacturers Association, made a similar argument.

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Utah leaders urge immigration reform

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