House Republicans get chance to grill administration on immigration enforcement

Washington (CNN) - Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is expected to be grilled on the administration¹s immigration enforcement policies when he testifies Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee.

This comes as the political battle over immigration reform heats up.

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As they push House Republican leaders to vote on immigration reform, warning them there will be a political cost for inaction, some leaders of Latino groups also expressed disappointment with the Obama Administration for delaying possible changes in its deportation policies.

The Department of Homeland Security had been weighing possibly relaxing some of its deportation guidelines and was expected to unveil some recommendations in the coming weeks.

“This administration has made a calculus,” Jose Calderon, president of the Hispanic Federation, said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.

“On the part of the community there is a great deal of frustration.”

He and other leaders would like to see a change in deportation policy, saying families are being broken up and that there should be a humane approach.

President Barack Obama asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson not to release any results from his ongoing review now but to continue working on it through the summer, a White House official said Tuesday evening.

“(Obama) believes there’s a window for the House to get immigration reform done this summer, and he asked the Secretary to continue working on his review until that window has passed. There’s a bipartisan consensus. It’s time for them to act and the President didn’t want the discussion of the secretary’s review to interfere with the possibility of action in the House,” the official said.

Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, told reporters "by not acting" families will continue to be torn apart and she wants to “ensure the families get the relief.”

Hector Sanchez, executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, said the deportations issue “requires immediate attention.”

The AFL-CIO weighed in late Wednesday.

“We face a grave moral crisis on immigration reform. Our long-held belief is that every possible step that could be taken should be taken with great urgency. We reiterate our urgent plea that all political leaders, in both branches, act without delay to end the deportation crisis,” AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in a statement.

The AFL-CIO is pushing the government to give work authorization to those illegal immigrants who would be low priorities for deportation or eligible for prosecutorial discretion and calling on Republican leaders to “stop catering to extremists” and schedule a vote on an immigration overhaul bill.

Some Democratic congressional leaders used the White House’s action to try to put more pressure on the House Republican leadership.

“Once again the President has shown a willingness to work with Republicans to get immigration reform done. The House Republicans are now out of excuses not to pass immigration reform, and the ball is in their court. Supporters of reform have bent over backwards to give the House space to act, and now it’s time for them to do so,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, the no. 2 House Democrat, told reporters “I think the President is trying to give the Speaker a little more space. I think he ought not give any more space than August 1, and I think he ought to determine, along with Secretary Johnson, what can be done at that point.”

Reacting to the White House decision on its immigration review, Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said “Enforcing the law as written isn’t a ‘concession’ – it is the President’s solemn responsibility. Now isn’t the time to be playing politics with immigration enforcement or our national security.”

Boehner has said the House will not take up one comprehensive immigration reform bill similar to the one passed by the Senate last year which included a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. He said he wants to see reform done in more of a piecemeal fashion.

While Boehner said last week “there is nobody more interested in fixing this problem than I am,” many conservatives in his party are fighting any attempts at taking up the issue especially because the party is divided on how to deal with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

An idea of just how contentious the issue is for House Republicans can be seen in the blocking last week of a modest bill by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-California, which would have given green cards to those who came to the United States illegally as children and who later served in the military.

While some of the leaders of a coalition of six Latino groups on Wednesday clearly were not pleased with the White House delaying any changes regarding deportations, the Latino activists said they were more upset with Republican leaders for not pushing harder for immigration reform. The groups released report cards giving a failing grade to a majority of House Republicans for their actions on immigration reform and went to Capitol Hill to deliver them in person.

“The House of Representatives is failing (the Latino community),” said the Hispanic Federation’s Jose Calderon. “The time to act is now.”

Warning that members of the Latino community will vote against those who don’t embrace change, “our community does not forget,” said Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota Education Fund.

Homeland Security Secretary Johnson is expected to be grilled on the administration’s immigration enforcement when he testifies Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee.

CNN Senior Producer Deirdre Walsh and Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta contributed to this story.