Rep. Tom Price: Obama is the 'largest opponent of immigration reform,' not Republicans

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) asserted on Sunday that Congress had not passed comprehensive immigration reform because its "largest opponent" was President Barack Obama.

In an interview on Fox News, Price defended Republicans who were insisting that the party replace House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) with someone who opposed immigration reform after he lost his primary last week.

Fox News host Chris Wallace reminded Price that former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had lost to Obama by 44 points among Hispanic voters in 2012.

"Don't you have to do something to appeal more?" Wallace wondered. "And immigration is certainly one of the things that Hispanics care about. Don't you have to do something if you're going to avoid getting in real trouble at the ballot box in 2014, and especially 2016?"

Price agreed that the immigration system was broken, but argued "that it is the president that is the largest opponent to immigration reform."

"It was Mitt Romney who lost among Hispanics, sir," Wallace noted.

"That doesn't negate the fact that President Obama in 2011 who said the border is secure," Price insisted. "The president was being deceitful with the American people on this."

"What did he do this weekend to correct that?" the Georgia Republican continued. "He went and gave a hyper-partisan commencement speech, and then went and played golf. That's the frustration that my constituents have. This is a president who is disengaged on solving this challenge of immigration."

"And we look forward to working with the president, but how can you work with somebody that the American people don't trust on this, and we can't trust on this issue? Because we know that he hasn't enforced the law of the land already."

In a statement last week, Price bowed out of the race for Majority Leader, saying that he was focused "on the opportunity to serve as the next chairman of the House Budget Committee."

Watch the video below from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast June 15, 2014.