WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--President Barack Obama will briefly discuss immigration reform Wednesday evening at a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

Concerns over immigration have been ignited by an Arizona law passed in April that requires law-enforcement officials to question those they reasonably believe are in the U.S. illegally.

The administration has said the Arizona measure bolsters the need to rewrite immigration laws to avoid having 50 states with 50 different laws. It's unclear whether the issue will get addressed this year, with tough mid-term elections approaching in the fall.

Gibbs said Obama has "said immigration is a very hard issue that Congress might not finish this year." Gibbs said later Wednesday that Obama will "discuss the need to continue to make progress on [immigration], even in a busy legislative time."

He added, "This is not going to pass with only one party's votes."

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