(Image: Wikimedia Commons )


BY STACEY WELSH

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN


Mitt Romney won’t say whether he’d overturn an immigration order President Obama announced Friday, which would halt deportations of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Romney tells CBS’s “Face the Nation:”

“There needs to be a long term solution so they know what their status is. This is something Congress has been working on. FLASH. But the president jumped in and said I’m gonna take this action. He called it a stop-gap measure.”

Romney also says President Obama should have worked on this policy years ago instead of a few months before the general election, implying the president’s move was purely political. But The Wall Street Journal reports fellow Democrats like Howard Dean are calling it a smart move on the president’s part because Romney...

“...must balance the desire of some Republicans for strict enforcement of immigration laws with his need to appeal to the growing Latino electorate...”

Romney bypassed the question multiple times, though he essentially argued the question was a mute point, because he says he would back a longer-term solution through legislation. A Politico reporter tells MSNBC that reflects a strategy of his own.

“He’s trying to buy himself time until the Republican party can really settle down and figure out what their immigration policy is going to be.”

A blogger for New America Media notes Romney says he would “review” Obama’s policy, but also doesn’t answer whether he would support a proposal in the works by GOP senators. That effort, spearheaded by Florida Senator Marco Rubio — who’s also on the shortlist of potential running mates — could serve as a modified version of the DREAM Act.

“Would its passage present the Republican Party with an opportunity to make real inroads into what, to this point, has been a largely hostile Latino electorate? … The Republican goal this year is not to get a majority of the Latino vote, but simply increase their share to 30-40 percent.”

Because immigrants would have to reapply to stay in the U.S. every two years under the order, the blog also questions what will happen if Obama loses the election and there is no permanent immigration reform before then. MSNBC also reports Romney has not outlined an alternate immigration plan.