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President Obama may not move on executive actions for immigration reform this summer, the White House concededon Tuesday.

"It's hard for me to at least at this point draw any clear conclusions about what the president's timing will be," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. "There is the chance that it could be before the end of the summer. There is the chance that it could be after the summer."

During a Rose Garden address earlier this year, Obama told reporters he expected recommendations from top administration officials "before the end of summer" and planned to adopt them "without further delay."

But the president last week sidestepped questions on whether the timetable for executive actions could be pushed back.

Obama hinted that developing the administrations response to this summer's surge in migrant children crossing the border could affect progress on broader immigration reform efforts.

Some of these things do affect timelines and we're just going to be working through as systematically as possible in order to get this done, Obama said. But have no doubt: In the absence of congressional action, I'm going to do what I can to make sure the system works better.

Earnest on Tuesday said the president was "basing this decision much more" on the substantive issues at hand, and that the administration was not "focused" on the politics behind the issue.

He also argued that the eventual moves were much more important "than the timing."

"What the president is concerned about is doing the best that he can to address as many problems as he can," Earnest said.

But Earnest conceded there was "no doubt that the White House has demonstrated our desire" to help Democrats battling for their political lives.

Excerpt from:
White House: Immigration action might not happen this summer