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House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, mocked his Republican colleagues for being too scared to reform the nation's immigration laws during a speech Thursday in his home district.

"Here's the attitude: 'Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard,'" he told a meeting of the Middletown Rotary Club.

"We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it's remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don't want to," he continued. "They'll take the path of least resistance."

Boehner said his work pushing the House of Representatives to deal with immigration reform has earned him a few bruises. "I've had every brick and bat and arrow shot at me over this issue just because I wanted to deal with it. I didn't say it was going to be easy," he said.

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President Obama describes his recent conversation about immigration reform with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

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A new immigration reform proposal from the House Republican leadership has triggered an intramural fight inside the party. Jeff Pegues reports.

President Obama and congressional Democrats have roasted the House for failing to act on immigration reform. They've accused Boehner of appeasing his party's far right wing at the expense of sensible, bipartisan policy. Even some Senate Republicans have predicted that the Senate bill would pass if Boehner ever brought it to the floor.

Boehner, ultimately the only person who could force the House to vote on a bill, has said he recognizes the nation's immigration system is broken, but he's also said he doesn't want to get out in front of his conference - that he wants the House to "work its will" on immigration.

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John Boehner mocks House Republicans for avoiding immigration reform