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Mitt Romney: I Will End Relief for Hundreds of Thousands of DREAMers

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According to the Boston Globe, the Romney Campaign has clarified Mitt Romney’s remarks regarding the future of President Obama’s initiative to protect undocumented youth eligible for the DREAM Act – and it is not good news.

In an interview with the Denver Post published yesterday, “the people who 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.”  Then, writes Boston Globe correspondent Callum Borchers, “Responding to a Globe request to clarify Romney’s statement to the Denver Post, Romney’s campaign said he would honor deportation exemptions issued by the Obama administration before his inauguration but would not grant new ones after taking office.”

At present, a total of 29 DREAMers have actually received their work permits.  It is our best guess that by the time of Inauguration Day rolls around some 100,000 DREAMers will have received their work permits.  With 1.4 million young people eligible, that means that Romney is now promising to protect but a fraction of the people who would benefit the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

This is stunning news.  It looked yesterday as if Romney was reaching out to Latino voters by promising to protect young people who benefit under President Obama’s initiative.  Now his campaign is promising to rip away the hopes and futures of more than a million young people who are American in all but paperwork.  Well, at least he finally came clean, and the choice is clearer than ever.  A vote for Romney is a vote against the DREAMers.