Romney will keep Obama's immigration policy

Updated 2:00 p.m. ET

Mitt Romney softened his stance on one of President Obama's immigration directives allowing certain undocumented immigrant youth to stay in the U.S. legally.

In an interview with The Denver Post Monday, Romney said he would not reverse an executive order issued by President Obama that would allow children of illegal immigrants to obtain a visa, permitting them to live and work in the U.S. legally for two years, if they meet certain criteria.

"The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. I'm not going to take something that they've purchased," Romney said. "Before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that I've proposed."

Months after the president issued the directive, Romney's admission that he would not reverse the executive order as president clarifies his position on the issue.

When asked by "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer in June if he would repeal the order, Romney said, "Well, let's step back and look at the issue," declining to give a straight answer. At the time, Romney also called the president's decision partly political.

"It's not really showing a huge amount of courage to give a confusing answer on an issue that's been around for more than 100 days," Obama spokesperson Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

The president's directive, which he ordered in June, is a way to circumvent Congress' stalemate over the DREAM Act, legislation that would give legal status to children of illegal immigrants who obtain higher education or join the military. Romney has supported the military component of the legislation but not the part involving education.

This is not the only issue involving immigration where Romney has softened. During the Republican primary he said he supported self-deportation, making laws so stringent that immigrants are driven out. He has not used the term since he clinched the Republican nomination. He now says he supports bolstering legal immigration, especially for highly-skilled workers, and securing the border.

Immigration in depth

According to numerous polls, the president is winning among Latino voters by more than 30 points.

Romney spoke to the Denver Post before a campaign rally in Colorado, where he is spending time preparing for Wednesday night's presidential debate.

In response to the news of Romney's new policy position, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Tuesday said Romney's interview with the Denver Post "raised more questions about what exactly is the policy would support."

"It's not really showing a huge amount of courage to give a confusing answer on an issue that's been around for more than 100 days," she said, noting that the president signed the executive order in question more than 100 days ago.

[Yeshuratnam]

A large chunk of noncitizens belongs to Latino group. Although Latinos pretend to support Obama by attending his rallies, in the heart of their hearts they support Romney and, according to unofficial survey, they will vote for Romney. The reason for this determined support to Romney is the Zimmerman episode. According to state law, a watcher will not be punished for carrying out his official duty. But Obama made a racial comment for the death of Martin by saying he is 'My Son.' Although many white boys and girls were shot to death on campuses, Obama never called them 'My sons,' and 'My daughters.' Obama's personal intervention in Martin's case led to the arrest of Zimmerman. Zimmerman has now become a hero of the Latinos. They know Romney will support them. But the arrest of Zimmerman has given the Latinos an opportunity to wreak vengeance on Obama.

[OKamwoc]

The Romney plan is better for immigrants and non-immigrants because.....


- Obama says he will sign the Dream Act but he never says how he will get the Dream Act passed. It has failed TWICE now, in 2007 and 2010.

- Rubio has plan to try to get it passed by moderating the measure.

- Obama does not address backlog for Family Based Visas for Mexico. Under Obama, backlog grew by 30 months.

- Romney would re-allocate Family Based Visas.

- Obama has increased deportations and sent National Guard to the Mexican border, but he hasn't talked about what he plans to do next.

- Romney wants to improve e-verify and DHS finding those who overstayed student visas and temporary work visas. (Obama currently deport a disproportionately higher rate of Mexicans. More Mexicans come without papers. Asians, especially from the Philipines, more often use fake green cards or overstay student visas.)


In fact, if you ever want to say our current immigration system discriminates against Mexicans,I could give you a long list of reasons and statistics to support it.

[nanc12]

In the still above, Mitt Romney demonstrates how he holds the Etch a Sketch before shaking it.

[myopinionpal]

Romney is really a democrat disguised as a republican, first he says he will keep some of Obamacare now he says that he will keep Obama's immigration policy. The first debate should be very funny and the laugh will be on you Mitt!!!

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

Romney: "Obama's ahead in the polling, so I'll start supporting him, instead!"

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

MORTARMAN_1SG29
And it wasnt a comback.

---------

As usual. But it was an attempt at one. Keep trying, Mortar - you'll get there someday!

[inbethlehem]

I'm sorry, but I heard about this so called blockbuster revelation that Sean Hannity was to reveal tonight on Fox and felt compelled to watch.

What I saw instead was the most dispicable display of racist garbage I have ever seen on a cable news channel. I don't expect much from Hannity as he is an uneducated baffoon. But for Fox to allow this trash is inexcusable.

Simply shameful. It makes me embarassed to be an American.

[billkol]

"What this election means to me.....who is going to bring all our troops home as fast as posible to protect our borders..not someone elses...who is going to build the intrastructer that is falling apart accross our country and make us safe to travel on our highways...who is going to make sure that every citizen has health care, not just the very rich or the very poor. Who is going to make sure that these brave veterans who fought for our freedom are cared for..not forgotten or deprived of no cost medical care...That is the person that I am going to vote for!"

[johnlockesghost]

Write in Ron Paul, or Jesse Ventura for president.

[johnlockesghost]

I'll add the same comment that I added, but you deleted a few hours ago.

That Romney now supports illegal immigrants leaves American citizens with no choice to vote for just like the political parties want it. So, there's no point in wasting ones time at the polls since the outcome will be the same, with few minor exceptions. It's the same old twiddle-dee-dee vs. twidle-dee-dum. If we, the American people, don't purge these n'er-do-well political parties, this great nation will be no more.