Obama Calls Gop Senators On Immigration

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President

Barack Obama

placed a round of calls to Republican senators working on legislation to revamp the nation’s immigration system just days after some of the lawmakers panned the president’s own immigration overhaul.

Mr. Obama called Republican Sens.

Marco Rubio

of Florida,

John McCain

of Arizona and

Lindsey Graham

of South Carolina Tuesday to “to discuss their shared commitment to bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform and to commend the senators for the bipartisan progress that continues to be made,” the White House said in a written summary of the calls released to reporters.

Mr. Obama didn’t speak to Sen.

Jeff Flake

(R., Ariz.) but plans to soon, the White House said. The four Republicans are half of a bipartisan group of eight senators that has crafted a plan to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. Their plan is similar to the president’s but differs in key aspects.

Over the weekend, Mr. Rubio said Mr. Obama’s plan would be “dead on arrival” if proposed to Congress, calling it “half-baked and seriously flawed.” He was speaking in response to new details of the president’s plan reported by USA Today. The White House has said the new details weren’t released intentionally.

Alex Conant,

a spokesman for Mr. Rubio, who is traveling in Israel, said that “The senator told the president that he feels good about the ongoing negotiations in the Senate, and is hopeful the final product is something that can pass the Senate with strong bipartisan support.”

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