--- title: Boehner Hasn't Promised He'll Pass Immigration Reform description: Both the White House and aides to House Speaker John Boehner are working Friday to knock down reports over immigration reform. canonical: https://time.com/102725/john-boehner-immigration-reform-white-house/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-16T14:22:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:53:12.303Z article:section: Politics og:title: Boehner Hasn't Promised He'll Pass Immigration Reform og:description: Both the White House and aides to House Speaker John Boehner are working Friday to knock down reports over immigration reform. og:url: https://time.com/102725/john-boehner-immigration-reform-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boehner Hasn't Promised He'll Pass Immigration Reform twitter:description: Both the White House and aides to House Speaker John Boehner are working Friday to knock down reports over immigration reform. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # No, John Boehner Hasn't Promised The White House He'll Pass Immigration Reform by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 16, 2014 2:22 PM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 16, 2014 2:22 PM UTC Both the White House and aides to House Speaker John Boehner are working Friday to knock down a report that the Republican leader has privately promised to pass immigration reform this year. The report stems from a speech given by Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who reportedly told a gathering of hedge fund executives and political donors gathered in Las Vegas this week that Boehner gave the White House assurances he would pass an immigration bill. “I think we have a window this summer, between now and August, to get something done,” Jarrett [said](http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/obama-hoping-pass-immigration-reform-year-adviser-tells-las-vegas-conference), the Las Vegas _Review-Journal_ reports. “We have a commitment from Speaker Boehner, who’s very frustrated with his caucus.” Conservative website Breitbart.com [picked](http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/05/15/Valerie-Jarrett-We-Have-a-Commitment-from-Boehner-to-Try-to-Pass-Amnesty) up the story with the headline: “VALERIE JARRETT: ‘WE HAVE A COMMITMENT’ FROM BOEHNER ON AMNESTY THIS YEAR,” while The Drudge Report linked the story with “Valerie Jarrett: ‘We have a commitment’ from Boehner to move immigration…” But Boehner spokesman Michael Steel denied the report in a statement Friday. “Republicans are committed to reforming our immigration system, but as the speaker has said repeatedly, it’s difficult to see how we make progress until the American people have faith that President Obama will enforce the law as written.” he said. And on Twitter, Jarrett said her meaning was “lost in translation.” > [](https://twitter.com/vj44/status/467300092308127745) Immigration reform is seen among GOP elites as an imperative for the party’s longterm demographic survival, as Hispanic-Americans are [expected](http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/11/14/an-awakened-giant-the-hispanic-electorate-is-likely-to-double-by-2030/) to account for up to 40% of the growth in eligible voters by 2030\. However, conservative activists, and many in Boehner’s conference, remain dead-set against passing any immigration reform bill. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/102725/john-boehner-immigration-reform-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/102725/john-boehner-immigration-reform-white-house/"},"headline":"No, John Boehner Hasn't Promised The White House He'll Pass Immigration Reform","datePublished":"2014-05-16T14:22:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:53:12.303Z","description":"Immigration reform \"commitment\" is \"lost in translation,\" says White House's Valerie Jarrett.","url":"https://time.com/102725/john-boehner-immigration-reform-white-house/","keywords":["Immigration"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/102725/john-boehner-immigration-reform-white-house/","name":"No, John Boehner Hasn't Promised The White House He'll Pass Immigration Reform"}}]}] ```