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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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WASHINGTON -- Just a week after House Republicans breathed new life into chances for an immigration overhaul this year, Speaker John A. Boehner all but abandoned the effort Thursday, saying it would be difficult to get any legislation approved.

Boehners principles for immigration reform, unveiled during last weeks private GOP retreat, found a welcome audience in President Obama, further boosting hopes that a bipartisan compromise was within reach.

But Boehner received a tepid, sometimes hostile response from rank-and-file Republicans, who see little value in engaging in an issue that deeply divides them as they prepare for November midterm elections.

Realizing once again that he may be unable to move his majority, Boehner lowered expectations Thursday, backing away from an effort that had been central to his partys broader strategy to win Latino and minority voters.

I never underestimated the difficulty that moving forward would be, Boehner, of Ohio, said Thursday.

The speaker is facing similar difficulties in gaining support from the House's 218 Republicans for a unified strategy in dealing with the upcoming debt-ceiling bill. Voicing some exasperation with his party, Boehner joked, "If the Congress wanted to make [Mother Theresa] a saint and attach that to the debt ceiling, we probably couldn't get 218 Republican votes."

He nevertheless sought to shift blame away from his party and onto the White House. He portrayed Obama as a distrusted partner, especially after the president vowed during his State of the Union address to use his executive powers to advance policy goals on issues where Congress has deadlocked.

The American people, including many of my members, dont trust that the reforms that were talking about will be implemented as it was intended, Boehner said. Hes running around the country telling everyone hes going to keep acting on his own. Hes talking about his phone and his pen.

Theres widespread doubt whether this administration can be trusted, Boehner said. Its going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.

The sudden reversal by Boehner is sure to draw criticism from the immigration community, including the growing Latino electorate that has abandoned the GOP in recent years.

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