Boehner: ‘I disagree with Mr. Trump’

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) distanced himself Thursday from GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric about illegal immigrants.

But Boehner warned that the broken immigration system won’t get fixed if lawmakers continue “sticking their heads in the sand.”

{mosads}Trump, a billionaire businessman and reality TV star, sparked a media firestorm when he said at his presidential campaign launch that Mexico is sending “rapists” and other criminals to the U.S. On Wednesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus personally phoned Trump and urged him to tone down his anti-immigrant talk, fearing that it was hurting other GOP White House hopefuls.

“I disagree with Mr. Trump’s comments and, frankly, I think political presidential candidates, they’ve all pretty much made their positions clear,” Boehner told reporters at a news conference.

“This has become the biggest political football I’ve seen in my congressional career, this whole issue of illegal immigration and what to do about it.”

Boehner alluded to the young woman who was shot to death allegedly by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco, saying the thorny immigration problem is “not going to get resolved” without congressional action.

“And if we want to resolve issues like we’ve seen develop in San Francisco and elsewhere, we need to get serious about enforcing the laws we have,” he said. “And if we don’t like the laws we have, then we need as a Congress to sit down and resolve this issue. And I want to see it resolved sooner rather than later.”

In January, House GOP leaders yanked a border security bill from the floor after conservatives complained it wasn’t tough enough. Since then, the House has avoided the issue.

Asked if his chamber planned to take up any immigration bills later this year, Boehner replied, “I would hope so.”