House Republicans are still privately wrestling with immigration reform. Boehner hints at immigration hopes

On Thursday, Speaker John Boehner gave a sliver of fresh insight into his thinking about immigration reform, saying he thinks legislation will pass the House before Congress has to wrestle with the debt ceiling.

The Ohio Republican said “we’ll see, but I would hope so” when asked if an overhaul of the nation’s migrant laws would pass before the debt ceiling — which is expected to need lifting in October or November.


Pulling the veil back even more on his views on the topic, Boehner said that Americans “expect that no one who broke our laws will get special treatment.” Although Boehner urged reporters to not read too much into his remarks, it was clear Boehner was giving a brief peek at his view on a pathway to citizenship — the most controversial aspect of immigration reform.

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House Republicans are still privately wrestling with immigration reform, and have settled on moving several small immigration measures — most likely when the chamber returns from its five-week August recess. The Senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill in late June.

Boehner wouldn’t rule out the possibility of passing a comprehensive bill at some point.

“We’re going to continue to work in a common-sense, step-by-step way,” he said to reporters in the Capitol. “How we proceed down the road, we’re going to have to make those decisions. This is a tricky path to do this correctly and we can’t have real immigration reform if we don’t first secure our borders.”