WASHINGTON (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner talked like a baby Thursday to mock the way Republicans act towards immigration reform. President Obama, on the other side of the globe, said Friday immigrants are “who we are.”
The Republican was home at an event in Ohio when he spoke of the "attitude" of his fellow GOP congressmen.
“Ooooooh, don’t make me do this,” said Boehner, whining into the microphone at a brown bag luncheon. “Ooooooh, this is too hard."
Boehner mocked other Republicans for being afraid to reform immigration policy at the Middletown Rotary Club in his district, where he faces a May 6th primary against three local opponents.
He said congress should take action on immigration reform this year and that his colleagues lack an appetite to tackle the issue, according to WKRC and the Cincinnati Enquirer, which first reported Boehner theatrically mocking his fellow representatives in the House.
Meanwhile, Heritage Action for America, a 4-year-old conservative organization which advocates for “fact-based policy” on immigration, spoke out.
“John Boehner is more interested in advancing the agenda of high-powered D.C. special interests than inspiring Americans with a policy vision,” said chief executive officer Michael A. Needham in a statement Thursday.
Alluding to the primary Boehner faces against three local opponents, Needham said “It’s disappointing, but by now not surprising, that the Republican speaker is attacking conservatives looking to retake the Senate.”
In a time zone 13 hours ahead of Boehner, President Obama spoke in Seoul, South Korea.
“The value of our immigrants to our way of life is central to who we are. It’s part of our DNA; it’s part of our creed,” said the President.
Obama said that if the United States wants to attract, and to keep attracting, the “best and brightest” then “we have to fix our broken immigration system.”
“Pass common sense immigration reform,” he said at the National War Memorial in South Korea. “We don’t want to make it harder, we want to make it more sensible, more efficient.”
CNN's Lisa Desjardins and Chloe Sommers contributed to this report.