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WASHINGTON - President Obama is directing top immigration officials to review U.S. deportation practices to see whether they can be carried out "more humanely" while still enforcing the laws on the books.

In an evening meeting with Latino lawmakers, Obama said he still wanted to push a comprehensive immigration reform package but that, in the meantime, he had asked the head of the Department of Homeland Security to run an "inventory" of the agencys practices.

Obama "emphasized his deep concern about the pain too many families feel from the separation that comes from our broken immigration system," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement released after the meeting.

Obama made the private announcement at a time when he is coming under increasing pressure from Latino lawmakers and other leaders to ease deportations even if Congress isnt willing to pass an immigration reform package this year.

With hope for an immigration overhaul all but dead for the year, advocates are calling for executive action in increasingly forceful terms. Last week, the head of the countrys largest Latino advocacy group pronounced Obama the "deporter in chief."

Obamas fellow Illinois Democrat Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez echoed the phrase on the House floor, noting that Obama had presided over a record number of deportations. About 2 million people have been ejected from the U.S. since Obama took office.

The idea that Obama might take executive action doesnt come out of the blue. In 2012, Obama announced that he would temporarily stop deporting many immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children.

Advocates have demanded that Obama extend that protection to others, such as the families of those young immigrants. They have also called for changes in other enforcement programs, including cooperative agreements between immigration authorities and local government agencies.

ButObama has said he thinks he has pushed his executive power as far as it will go on the matter. Republican critics have cited Obamas past actions as a reason not to trust him to enforce the law as it stands.

Obama has also told top advisors that, when it comes to tough questions on immigration policy, he wants to hear from the people most likely to be affected.

Read more:

Obama orders deportation review, seeks more humane enforcement

Watch the full video interview above or here with Rep. Luis Gutierrez.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez told Fox News Latino a less 'combative' and 'defensive' President Barack Obama showed up at a private White House meeting on immigration reform Thursday. This, he said, is giving him hope that Obama will use his power and bypass Congress to stop the record number of deportations processed during his administration.

Obama met with Gutierrez and two other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Thursday. The meeting resulted in an announcement that Obama will be directing his homeland security chief to review America's deportation program with the goal of offering more humane ways to enforce the law.

"It was a great conversation. It reestablished a dialogue," said Gutierrez, a staunch liberal Democrat and a critic of Obama on immigration. "We made abundantly clear to the president the kind of pain and the kind of demand which exists throughout the immigrant communities of this nation for a more humane process when it comes to deportation, the breaking up of families, the children left without parents."

"He wasnt defensive. He wasnt combative," Gutierrez explained. "He has been in the past, when weve raised this issue with him. He spoke to us [about] just how broken his heart is to see this deportation. How he has worked within the confines of the law to alleviate, and that the only way he can fix it in a broad meaningful way is for Congress to act."

Gutierrez said he sensed Obama shifted his tone away from saying there is 'nothing more he can do' on immigration reform.

"I heard a President of the United States that said, 'look this is what I can do,' Im not going to say there is nothing that I can do'," said Gutierrez, who said the meeting touched on a strategy to passing a comprehensive law.

The Illinois Democrat said he and other Latino lawmakers will meet with Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson in about two weeks. Here they will present their 'menu options' or recommendations to help alleviate the deportation problem. One of those options, Gutierrez said, includes the possibly of expanding DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides young undocumented immigrants a two-year work permit and a temporary stay from deportation.

"There are some technical things that can be done that may seem small, but have huge impacts on peoples lives and there are some larger things that we can do," Gutierrez said in a video interview with Fox News Latino.

He then provided a warning to House Republicans, who have not acted on immigration reform.

Link:

Dem hopeful after less 'defensive' Obama shows up at immigration meeting

Rubio: Immigration Reform Unlikely Under Obama
March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and leader of an effort to rewrite U.S. immigration laws, talks about immigration reform and t...

By: Bloomberg News

View original post here:

Rubio: Immigration Reform Unlikely Under Obama - Video

By Frank Thorp V

For the second time in recent months, a group of immigration reform advocates confronted House Speaker John Boehner Thursday morning at a diner on Capitol Hill where he was having breakfast.

Activists used the same tactic for confronting the top Republican in November of last year.

In a video documenting the exchange, Veronica Zavaleta - an undocumented immigrant from Tennessee who has a son going to college in Kentucky tells Boehner I really want to know why you have broken the dream of the DREAMERS."

Boehner can also be heard saying Whoa, whoa, whoa, that is not very nice, although the speakers office says that comment was not addressed to Zavaleta or the other protestors.

The video was posted on YouTube by the Center for Community Change.

The three volunteers from Tennessee are part of the FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) coalition and are in Washington participating in a "Keep Families Together Summit," which includes rallies and events where they are confronting members of Congress asking them to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

First published March 13 2014, 8:48 AM

Frank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News. He started this role in June 2011. Thorp is responsible for managing coverage of the House of Representatives, and supports Capitol Hill correspondents Kelly ODonnell and Luke Russert in their reporting on Congress.

Previously, Thorp served as NBC News long-term presence in Haiti after a devastating earthquake hit that country in 2010. Thorp has also worked at CBS News.

Continue reading here:

Immigration Activists Confront Boehner at Diner, Again

Lent reminds Catholics to focus on three areas: fasting, almsgiving and prayer. This year, many are choosing to make their Lenten commitments shine a light on social injustices within our country and beyond, fasting with organizations advocating for change.

As Lent began March 5, more than two dozen presidents of Catholic colleges and universities fasted for 24 hours to bring attention to the ongoing campaign Fast for Families. On Feb. 22, more than 150 students from various Midwestern Catholic colleges and universities gathered at Loyola University Chicago for "Lighting the Pathway: Student Summit on Immigration Reform." I sat with three Loyola University Chicago sophomores to discuss their commitment to immigration reform and their experience at the summit.

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Why does immigration reform matter to you?

Claire O'Halloran: I was one of the students who went in November to the Ignatian Solidarity Network teach-in to advocate for increasing the minimum wage. There were students who were also there to advocate on immigration reform, and I learned how much these issues factor into each other.

Flavio Bravo: This is definitely a personal issue and a passion of mine. Coming from Arizona, I thought it was the norm to talk regularly about immigration reform. I thought in Chicago, everyone would want to talk about this issue, but many have never seen the border. They don't know about it.

Growing up, we would go on shrimp runs [to Mexico], and at the border, they would say, "Welcome, Flavio" and say the same to my brother, but my sister, the only one who has dark skin, would be asked questions.

It all goes back to my uncle, who was Cesar Chavez's right-hand man; my uncle's coffin was built by Chavez's brother. Labor rights have a direct tie to immigration reform.

Hannah Coley: I thought about immigration reform seeing people my age struggling when I don't have to worry about going to college. I had never thought about that before and this changed to being an issue present for people I know. It was a huge shock.

How has the need for immigration reform impacted you personally?

Continued here:

A Lenten commitment to immigration reform