US schoolgirl challenges Michelle Obama on immigration

A US schoolgirl has challenged First Lady Michelle Obama during a visit to a primary school near Washington.

The girl said her mother - who she revealed was an undocumented migrant - said Barack Obama was "taking everybody away that doesn't have some papers".

Mrs Obama said work should be done to ensure immigrants had proper papers.

The US First Lady was at the school with the wife of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose US visit has been dominated by immigration issues.

The exchange occurred when Mrs Obama and her counterpart Margarita Zavala were visting the school in Silver Spring, Maryland.

After being challenged by the unidentified girl, Mrs Obama said: "That's something that we have to work on, to make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers."

The girl then said "but my mum doesn't have papers". The First Lady replied: "We have to fix that. And everybody's got to work together in Congress to make sure that that happens."

The headteacher said the school did not inquire about the immigration status of parents.

During his visit, both Mr Calderon and Mr Obama criticised a controversial new immigration law in Arizona.

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