Appearing in the White House Rose Garden, President Obama says he will take executive action to fix what he calls a broken immigration system.

Obama says he is done waiting for House Republicans to pass an immigration bill.

SOUNDBITE: PRESIDENT OBAMA, SAYING:

"America cannot wait forever for them to act and that's why today I'm beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own without Congress."

His announcement comes amid controversy over a surge of unaccompanied children from Central America crossing the border.

Obama says most will be returned home once their legal cases are adjudicated.

In the meantime, Administration officials will prepare recommendations on immigration by the end of the summer.

Obama says he's already working on strengthening the border.

SOUNDBITE: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, SAYING:

"As a first step, I'm directing the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to move