Obama will meet with the Arizona governor to discuss the new US immigration bill passed by the state.
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03 June 2010
US immigration bill to be discussed today by Obama, Arizona governor
US President Barack Obama will meet with Arizona's governor today as the issue of the state’s immigration law becomes increasingly important.
In April, Governor Jan Brewer signed a controversial law making it a crime in Arizona to lack proper US immigration papers and giving local police, not federal agents responsible for immigration matters, the ability to stop and question whether people are in the United States illegally.
Critics of the law, which takes effect on July 29, say it will cause ethnic profiling.
“I think it's important that the president and I sit down and discuss why it is important and explain to him exactly what it is that Arizona is feeling and the impact that it is having on our great state and not only on the great state of Arizona but certainly on America," Brewer told CNN.
Brewer said "the people of Arizona are discouraged. They're fed up. We've had security flaws on the border for years now. And it's time that we do something about it immediately."
But she insisted the law was not about singling out people of any particular ethnicity.
A White House official confirmed the meeting between Obama and Brewer, saying "This administration has dedicated unprecedented resources over the past 16 months to fulfill the federal government's responsibility to secure the southwest border".
The US Justice Department has sent officials to Arizona for consultations on controversial aspects of the law, official sources say.
Obama has said he wants to work on comprehensive US immigration reform.
The American Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people make US visa applications to the US Embassy.