Immigration reform meeting today between Obama, other U.S. leaders

Immigration Reform Talks Held Today

Immigration reform takes center stage today with a White House meeting between President Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders about how to fix the seemingly broken immigration system.

Among those expected to talk with the President about immigration reform are former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Also in attendance will be Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.

A statement by the White House said that Obama wanted to meet fellow leaders in a bipartisan effort to explore some ideas on how to revamp the "broken immigration system" of the country.

"The question is going to be, are we going to be able to find some Republicans who can partner with me and others to get this done once and for all instead of using it as a political football," Obama said earlier in an interview with Dallas TV station WFAA.

Obama is under pressure to tackle immigration reform which he said was one of his priorities during his campaign. But with his first term nearing an end and another campaign looming, progress on this sensitive issue has not been made, much to the disappointment of immigration activists and the general public.

Instead of pushing for immigration reform policies, the Latino and Hispanic communities noted that the Obama administration deported a record-high 393,000 immigrants in 2010.

Just last week, 22 Democratic senators asked Obama to postpone deportation proceedings of some undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States by their parents.

Obama's re-election campaign may prominently feature the thorny issue of immigration reform.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday April 19 2011, 3:56 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0