By Maria Peña

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has scheduled a meeting with congressional leaders from both parties to discuss the topic of immigration reform with a view making progress on that contentious issue this year, an official told Efe.

“The president wants to discuss with Democratic and Republican lawmakers different ways of making progress on this issue, of finding a starting point for a debate on the reform this year,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The meeting is scheduled for June 8, but the “final list” of lawmakers to be invited to the gathering has not yet been drawn up, the official added.

As he has done with all of the priority items on his administration’s agenda, Obama intends to involve all interested parties in the dialogue.

Approached by Efe about the scheduled gathering, the spokesman for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Miguel Ayala, said he has no first-hand knowledge.

Another Democrat heavily involved in the immigration reform issue, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), has headed a campaign to garner more public support for a reform to aid the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, roughly three-fourths of whom are Hispanics.

Gutierrez recently concluded a national tour of a score of cities, meeting with community leaders and activists to get feedback from people affected by immigration raids and deportations.

The problem of illegal immigration is one of many contentious issues inherited by the Obama administration and one that stirs strong passions among the United States’ large immigrant community and conservatives alike.

New York Democrat Charles Schumer said Wednesday at a Senate hearing that, according to the U.S. Border Patrol, the number of arrests on the southern border between October 2008 and May 15 has fallen 27 percent relative to the same period of 2007-2008.

Most lawmakers from his party say they will support a bill – similar to a measure that was shelved in 2007 despite backing from Democrats and then-President George W. Bush – that includes elements such as increased border security and a path to legalization for undocumented migrants.

“The president is trying to keep his promise to address immigration reform during his first year” in office, Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group America’s Voice, said in a statement.

But, as in previous years, conservative groups remain staunchly opposed to any reform, saying it would amount to amnesty for those who have violated U.S. law by illegally entering the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security currently is carrying out a thorough evaluation of the country’s immigration policies.

For the time being, Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that the federal government will continue to conduct the raids, but that the focus will primarily be on companies that have knowingly hired undocumented immigrants.

The DHS, meanwhile, plans to continue its policy of jailing and pressing charges against undocumented migrants who are detained by the Border Patrol.

It also plans to continue its controversial “Safe Communities” program to identity and deport undocumented migrants with a criminal record. EFE