President Barack Obama will make a much anticipated statement regarding immigration on Thursday night. It is possible that he will announce an executive order that would allow more than four million of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants to work and live in the U.S. legally.

Ahead of his addressing the nation, Obama met with 18 Democratic members from the House and Senate Wednesday evening at a dinner where no Republicans were asked to attend, according to Washington Examiner.

Addressing the issue via a Facebook video, Obama stated that: "Everybody agrees our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately, Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long. What I am going to be laying out are the things I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better, even as I continue to work with Congress."

According to the New York Post, Democratic lawmakers, confident that Obama will suffer with Republicans whatever he decides to do about immigration, feel he might as well embrace his power to reform and in the process perhaps win the affection of millions of immigrants and potential Latino Voters.

“Be brave, go big, go bold and go now,” suggested Democrat Representative of Nevada Dina Titus.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also discussed the opportunities arsing from this current immigration situation.

“When the president decides to do his executive order, he should go big — as big as he can," he said.

Republicans are not happy about what may come.

Responding to a NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll that stated that, while Obama's planned action on immigration is not without risk, a broad section of Americans share his goals for policy reform, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said that the president's "unilateral action, which is unconstitutional and illegal, will deeply harm our prospects for immigration reform."

While not ruling out a government shutdown, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence told NBC News on Wednesday that Congress should use "the power of the purse" to keep the president from taking executive action on immigration.

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