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WASHINGTON -- With prospects for real immigration reform fading, President 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: Mr. Obama is directing his homeland security chief, Jeh Johnson, to review America's 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, he's already stretched his presidential powers to the max.

Preferring a lasting legislative solution for one of the president's top priorities, the White House had wanted to avoid this course, knowing that any steps Mr. Obama takes that are perceived as overreaching will only give Republicans excuses to avoid dealing with immigration. After all, the GOP has already cast Mr. 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 that's been among Mr. Obama's most loyal has spiraled, with prominent Latino leaders denouncing Mr. Obama as the "deporter in chief." Advocates who had long given Mr. 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 Mr. Obama will go - or what options are even available to mitigate the pain without consent from Congress.

White House officials declined to answer questions Thursday about what the government could do to make deportation more humane or whether there's a timeline for Homeland Security to finish an inventory and report back to Mr. Obama. But immigration activists will likely renew their call for Mr. Obama to halt deportations of parents of children brought to the U.S. illegally, among other steps.

"The president emphasized his deep concern about the pain too many families feel from the separation that comes from our broken immigration system," read a statement from Mr. Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney.

The conversation will start Friday, when Mr. Obama plans to meet with organizations working to pass bipartisan immigration legislation.

Original post:

Obama orders review of controversial deportation policies