Obama Tells GOP Senators He Has Read Arizona Immigration Law
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Obama told Senate Republicans Tuesday that, unlike a couple of his top Cabinet officials, he's read the Arizona immigration -- but he still thinks it opens the door for discrimination.
The president touched on immigration and border security during a rare, private meeting on Capitol Hill with Senate Republicans. The meeting came after two top officials, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, recently admitted they have not read Arizona's controversial law despite publicly criticizing it.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he expressed concern during the meeting that administration officials have not bothered to study the law -- at which point the president stressed that he has read it and still has concerns about its implications.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Obama has called the law misguided. He said last week that he's directed the Justice Department to review it.
Though critics say the law opens the door for racial discrimination, the language in the bill prohibits profiling. It requires law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone officers suspect of being an illegal immigrant provided they don't stop anyone for that reason alone. The law empowers them to turn confirmed illegal immigrants over to federal custody.