Obama and Calderón Decry Ariz. Immigration Law - nytimes

Michelle Obama had taken her Mexican counterpart to a Maryland elementary school that serves many children originally from Latin America, to showcase its physical education and lunch programs as part of her emphasis on healthy living. But as the first lady took questions from some students, a little girl raised her hand.

“My mom,” the girl started hesitantly, “she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn’t have papers.”

“Yeah, well, that’s something that we have to work on, right?” Mrs. Obama answered. “To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right?”

“But my mom doesn’t have any papers,” the girl said.

For a president’s family mostly removed from the real world, the encounter brought home in a direct and unusually personal way the complicated dynamics of the nation’s problem with illegal immigration. Just minutes after the first lady’s encounter in Maryland, Mr. Obama strode into the Rose Garden with Mr. Calderón to navigate the treacherous political crosscurrents of the divisive issue. - Obama and Calderón Decry Ariz. Immigration Law