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The Spanish-language press highlights yesterday’s press conference in Washington at which several pro-immigrant organizations charged that deportations have increased during the Obama administration compared to those carried out under President Bush. However, La Opinión reports that the Department of Homeland Security denies that deportations have increased by 47%, saying that the DHS report on which the groups’ claims were based contained errors in its formula for calculating the number of deportations.

The Spanish-language media has its eyes on today’s White House meeting between President Barack Obama and Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who have been working on a comprehensive immigration reform proposal which would include a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. Univisión.com’s sub-headline reads “White House Seeks to Avoid Protests.” La Opinión (Los Angeles) offers details about Schumer’s potential bill, which would require those seeking to adjust their immigration status to pay minor fines and would prevent them from leaving the country. EFE and the AP have more.

La Opinión (Los Angeles) publishes an article about the pressure President Obama and Congress are feeling to introduce immigration reform for debate, and the President’s search for a legislative opportunity to tackle the issue. The article details recent activities in the Oval Office and the Capitol in advance of March 21st’s demonstration in Washington.

EFE issues a dispatch from Atlanta, where the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) is heading a boycott of Wal-Mart, due to start on March 20th, to ask the company to take a stand in support of immigration reform. “The point of this initiative is to call attention to Wal-Mart, who, with its large quantity of Latino customers, has a moral obligation to support reform,” a GLAHR representative said.

The Spanish-language press continues to highlight the importance of the March 21st march for immigration reform. The EFE reports that “Once, President George W. Bush was accused of failing to spend sufficient political capital on passing immigration reform. Now Obama confronts similar complaints, and the drama threatens to repeat itself;