This week, Americans witnessed history as young DREAMers began applying for deferred action under the policy announced by President Obama. The event garnered intense attention in both English and Spanish Language media. Univisión anchor Jorge Ramos said, “The day of DREAMS has arrived. As of today DREAMers can present their application for deferred action to the United States Government. This is historic.”
It was historic. But the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, didn’t say a word about the significant new policy, which impacts the lives of over 1.7 million young people. All we heard, in response to questions from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, were some comments from Romney advisor Ed Gillespie, “[Romney’s] position he laid out entails taking a comprehensive look at this, how to solve this problem. But he does not support President Obama’s action that he’s taken today.”
Say what? The last time Romney spoke at length about immigration was at the NALEO conference on June 21st. Romney vowed to keep his promises on immigration, but in the speech he pointedly refused to provide any specifics about what he would do with respect to the top issue in the debate: what to do with the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, most of whom have been in the U.S. for more than a decade and live with their families. Since Romney has ducked the issue since the primaries, and has not refuted any of the views he expressed then, we’ve compiled a video of Romney stating his true positions and promises.
Watch the video titled “Mitt Romney on Immigration: The Promises He’ll Keep” here:
In his own words, here are details of Romney’s immigration promises:
- Romney would veto the DREAM Act;
- Romney thinks Arizona’s SB 1070 is a “model for the nation;” and
- Romney thinks the answer to our immigration reform is “self-deportation.”
Says Frank Sharry, Executive Director at America’s Voice:
During the primaries, Mitt Romney talked tough about immigration in order to appeal to his party’s nativist base. During the general he has avoided talking about his hard-line views on unauthorized immigration and when he has addressed the topic he has focused on legal immigration reforms he favors. Maybe he’s figured out that taking advice from Kris Kobach while offering praise for Jan Brewer and Joe Arpaio has not proven to be a wise political move. For example, Latino Decisions polling shows that Obama trounces Romney among Latino voters by a 48 point margin (70% – 22%.) The fact remains: Romney laid out his anti-immigrant agenda quite clearly in the primaries and he’s done nothing to refute or moderate those extreme views.
