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Article updated: 3/14/2014 9:39 AM

Daniela Gil, 6, cries Tuesday March 11, 2014 as a bus is moved at the privately run Tacoma Northwest Detention Center which houses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees. Daniela and her family believed her dad, Guillermo Gil was aboard the bus to be deported to Mexico. Guillermo Gil lived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant for 20 years before being detained in October of 2013.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON With prospects for real immigration reform fading, President Barack Obama is yielding to pressure from some of his staunchest allies and looking for ways to act without Congress to ease the suffering caused by deportation.

An Oval Office meeting with three Latino lawmakers brought about a late-night announcement from the White House on Thursday: Obama is directing his homeland security chief, Jeh Johnson, to review Americas deportation program, with an eye toward finding more humane ways to enforce the law without contravening it.

It was unexpected, coming from a president who said as recently as last week that when it came to deportations, hes already stretched his presidential powers to the max.

Preferring a lasting legislative solution for one of Obamas top priorities, the White House had wanted to avoid this course, knowing that any steps Obama takes that are perceive as overreaching will only give Republicans excuses to avoid dealing with immigration. After all, the GOP has already cast Obama as a president gone wild, citing endless changes to his health care law and his move to allow children brought to the U.S. illegally to stay here.

But what started as ordinary griping from a constituency thats been among Obamas most loyal has spiraled, with prominent Latino leaders denouncing Obama as the deporter in chief. Advocates that had long given Obama the benefit of the doubt determined that his persistent efforts to push lawmakers to act were not enough they were done waiting for Congress.

It is clear that the pleas from the community got through to the president, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., adding that the White House had been dormant for too long.

What is not clear is how far Obama will go or what options are even available to mitigate the pain without consent from Congress.

See the article here:

Under pressure, Obama vows to examine deportations

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.

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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

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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.

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Immigration Activists Confront Boehner at Diner, Again