Immigration reform is a topic that has been discussed for decades. Although there has been plenty of talk about this reform, there has been little to no action. We expect the government to be the leaders of our country, but when they refuse to take action it feels as though, rather than leading, they are falling farther and farther behind.

A recent Gallup poll, conducted between Feb. 6-9, found that 44 percent of Americans rank dealing with the large number of immigrants already in the U.S. as “extremely important,” and 43 percent rank border security in the same way. This is a stark contrast to a few years ago, when many more Americans worried about border security.

Given the new public perceptions regarding immigration reform, our government needs to get to work, and many politicians agree. President Obama issued a call to action for the American people, recently commenting that, “The main thing people can do right now is put pressure on Republicans who have refused so far to act.”

The desire to see meaningful immigration reform is not only restricted to democrats, though. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has been known as a staunch proponent of getting a deal done, helped author the Senate’s comprehensive immigration legislation last summer. “I would again urge my House colleagues to consider whatever way they want to pursue to try to address this issue because it’s going to have to be addressed,” said McCain in an interview with “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley.

Those House colleagues, led by Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), do not seem eager to listen to their 2008 presidential candidate, however. Boehner has made waves with the more conservative fringes of his party by calling out certain organizations associated with the tea party as having lost credibility and, more recently, by allowing a “clean” debt ceiling bill to pass the House, meaning the republicans did not demand concessions from the democrats.

Boehner maintained some of his conservative credibility though, by pushing back on the issue of immigration. After issuing a list of principles that the GOP would heed regarding any reforms, Boehner hit the brakes, saying that he and other Republicans couldn’t trust Obama to enforce any potential law as written.

This is an extremely weak argument, but one that allows Boehner and his fellow republicans to shift the focus of immigration questions to the widely unpopular Obama and his repeated executive actions delaying or altering the controversial Affordable Care Act. Boehner’s statements are also a convenient way for republicans to both appease voters who want the GOP to address immigration and not immediately upset those that would not favor any realistic reforms.

In addition to these benefits, by drawing attention to Obama and how he has been enforcing laws, the republicans are fighting back against Obama’s so-called “year of action,” in which he promised to take action when Congress wouldn’t. Along with the president’s statement Friday in a Univision Radio interview that he “believe[s] it will get done before my presidency is over,” a national stage is set for an immigration showdown.

In response to the apparent concern that Obama would not be willing or able to enforce an agreement, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested that a deal be made now that would not go into effect until 2017, when a new president will be sitting in the Oval Office. Opponents of such a scenario still remain, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) who called Schumer’s plan “a political trap.”

Yes, how dare the democrats suggest such a trap. How dare they suggest that both parties work toward addressing one of the biggest issues in the current political landscape. Even in states that are not usually thought of as being plagued by immigration problems, there are movements to take action.

Right here in Iowa, a press conference held yesterday where a number of Iowa businesses called on the U.S. House of Representatives to engage in reform. Using figures from a forecasting report by Regional Economic Models, Inc., the businesses claimed immigration reform could add $280 million to Iowa’s economy in 2014 and create thousands of jobs.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, which acts as “the voice of agricultural producers at all levels,” released a report Monday that claims an enforcement-only immigration solution would harm the nation’s agricultural workers. Along with this, the Farm Bureau’s president Bob Stallman said, “Status quo is not a viable option for anyone involved in this issue.”

Whatever you think needs to be done about immigration, the political motto of ‘we’ll get to it later’ is not helping, and needs to be fixed.