Tucson, Arizona, Apr 17 (EFE).- While lawmakers in Washington are preparing to begin debate on possible immigration reform, in Arizona deportations and the separation of families are continuing, activists said here Wednesday. "Today is an historic day. Finally a plan was presented for immigration reform for which we've waited for so long. However, here, in Arizona, our community reaffirms that it continues to be the target of unfair laws that do not provide relief for our reality," Raul Alcaraz, an organizer with the Southside Worker Center, told Efe.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers was set to unveil this week a major immigration reform proposal that could, if passed, provide a path to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally. A press conference announcing the plan, initially scheduled for Tuesday, was delayed following the explosions in Boston on Monday, but a document describing the plan was sent to AFP on Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is on the cusp of introducing the most sweeping immigration reform in a quarter century, in what could amount to a dramatic victory for President Barack Obama. A Senate bill is now expected to be unveiled as early as Monday, Democrat Robert Menendez, one of eight senators tasked with thrashing out the deal, said at a major immigration reform rally Wednesday outside the US Capitol.

A bipartisan group of US senators is very close to reaching a deal on immigration reform and a bill could be introduced in Congress within days, sources said. The reform, a key focus of President Barack Obama's second term, could contain a long-term path to citizenship for the country's more than 11 million illegal immigrants, as well as an expansion of quotas of foreign workers and tighter border security. "We are optimistic that we will be able to introduce legislation soon," a Senate aide told AFP.