When President Barack Obama announced a delay on his immigration executive action, he said politics was not behind the decision, but Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, disagreed.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest had commented on the executive action delay and claimed the Republican Party would have made the topic an issue ahead of the midterm Election Day.

Earnest said, "The fact, or I guess the concern, is that had the president moved forward with his announcement prior to Election Day, you would have seen Republican candidates do more to make the immigration issue central to their campaign."

The White House press secretary added, "And in the event that they were successful in their campaign, the concern would be that they would cite their opposition to immigration reform as a reason for their success. That is not a storyline that the president wanted, or that anybody here wanted to contribute to."

Boehner, in a joint statement with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., commented on Earnest's statement as "shocking."

"It's shocking that the White House now openly admits that President Obama is delaying his unilateral actions on immigration until after the November elections simply because of raw politics," said Boehner and Goodlatte.

The House representatives both added that an executive action by Obama was "never acceptable" had it taken place before or after the November election. The joint statement noted Obama cannot "rewrite" U.S. laws by executive action due to the Constitution not allowing him the power to do so.

"By taking unilateral action on immigration, President Obama will inject serious constitutional questions into an already heated debate. Such shortsighted actions will undermine the American people's trust in the President's commitment to enforcing our immigration laws and will further setback any chance of enacting immigration reform," said Boehner and Goodlatte.

As Latin Post reported, Obama planned on announcing an immigration executive action by either late August or early September following recommendations from the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security. In early September, Obama announced its delay until November. Goodlatte, with his position with the House Judiciary Committee Republicans, requested Obama to disclose the recommendation information ahead of his executive action announcement. Obama hasn't disclosed such information.

"Regarding actions you are planning that you believe would comply with the Constitution, the least the Administration can do is give Americans the opportunity to see the recommendations that you are considering before you take any actions," Goodlatte wrote in a letter in late September. "Rather than attempt to hide these actions from the American people until after the midterm elections, Americans should be given the chance to come to their own conclusions as to the merits of these recommendations." 

During a speech at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala, Obama said executive action will come between Election Day on Nov. 4 and the end of the year. "I've said before that if Congress failed to live up to its responsibilities to solve this problem, I would act to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, and I meant what I said. So this is not a question of if, but when," Obama said on Oct. 2.

Although the House has yet to debate the Senate-approved and bipartisan immigration reform legislation "S.744 - Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act," which passed in June 2013 with Republican cosponsors such as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Boehner said he's "absolutely" confident the GOP can support immigration reform. Boehner has previously announced the House will not debate immigration reform this year.