According to one Democratic lawmaker in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama has "attempted" to work with the Republican Party on comprehensive immigration reform.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., during an appearance on ABC's "This Week," said the immigration reform executive action should occur now than wait for the new Congress in January. Gutierrez said the GOP were told Democrats wanted to work with them on handling immigration but also Obama had attempted to work with Republicans. According to Gutierrez, Republicans continued to refuse to compromise despite concessions on behalf of the Democrats.

"We passed a Senate bill," said Gutierrez. "When the Republicans said, 'can't include gay people,' it was hard for us, but we said okay. When they said there couldn't be citizenship for everyone right away, we said okay. When they said, 'hey, we have to do it in bits and pieces,' we said okay. Each and every time we said okay, they refused to act on the issue."

According to Gutierrez, Obama has to act immediately because "millions" of American families are relying on the president to address and fix the broken immigration system.

"I know that my colleagues are tired of seeing U.S. servicemen being called to be deployed in defense of our nation and at the same time when they receive that deployment notice, they are receiving a notice that their wife should be deported, because there are four million American citizens who want to live with their moms and dads," said Gutierrez.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Obama has been "political and cynical" on the issue of immigration reform. Cole noted Obama could have addressed immigration reform when the Democrats had control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives during the first two years of his presidential term.

"It's been a political weapon rather than a problem to be solved," said Cole, on how Obama has handled the issue. Cole recommended Obama waiting until the 114th Congress is sworn in on January.

Gutierrez's support of Obama's executive action on immigration has been echoed by 115 Democrats in the House of Representatives. In a letter obtained by Latin Post for Obama, the House Democrats acknowledged the House Republicans' refusal to debate and vote on the Senate's immigration legislation.

"We hope that your actions will prevent the separation of undocumented family members of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) beneficiaries and offer protection to others who have long worked in the United States and have established strong ties with our communities," the 116 House Democrats wrote, noting they were disappointed with the president's delay but were encouraged with his "reaffirmed" promise to act before the end of the year.

116 House Democrats Letter to Obama Supporting Immigration Reform Executive Action:

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