President to meet with key senators on immigration

[March 06, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is "looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill," Shapiro said Friday.

The meeting will be the first Obama has had with Schumer and Graham on the proposal they are developing since they began focusing on it last year.

Immigration has taken a back seat to the economy and health care on Obama's agenda since he took office just over a year ago. Immigrants and their advocates - promised by then-candidate Obama that he would tackle the issue in his first year as president - have been growing frustrated by the inaction.

Several community groups planned to vent some of that frustration in a news conference Monday in Washington. The groups also are trying to organize tens of thousands of people from around the country for a March 21 demonstration in Washington.

"The president's commitment to fixing our broken immigration system remains unwavering," Shapiro said.

[Associated Press; By SUZANNE GAMBOA]

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