OBAMA LAYS OUT IMMIGRATION GOALS, NOT TIMING

 Leaving his timing uncertain, President Barack Obama laid out ambitious objectives Friday for immigration steps he intends to take on his own and said he had already received some recommendations from the Homeland Security and Justice departments for executive action he could implement without Congress.

Facing competing pressures from immigration advocacy groups and from Democrats nervous about November's midterm election, Obama made no commitment about whether he would act in the coming weeks as he had earlier pledged.

He said that without congressional action to overhaul the immigration system, he would take steps to increase border security, to upgrade the processing of border crossers, to encourage legal immigration and to give immigrants who have been illegally in the United States for some time a path to become legal residents, pay taxes, pay a fine and learn English.

"I want to be very clear: My intention is, in the absence of...action by Congress, I'm going to do what I can do within the legal constraints of my office, because it's the right thing to do for the country,"

Being a leader requires making difficult and courageous decisions," the letter, whose signers included the National Council of La Raza and the League of United Latin American Citizens, said. "It is your time to lead, Mr. President."