SALON

Friday, Jun 15, 2012 8:17 PM UTC

Romney gets DREAMy on immigration

After repeatedly vowing to veto the DREAM Act, the candidate suggests he has no problem with Obama's new policy

By

Topics: 2012 Elections, Immigration, Mitt Romney,

Romney gets DREAMy on immigration Mitt Romney (Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas)

Fire up the Etch a Sketch.

After spending the entire GOP presidential primary affirming his hard-right immigration policies, Mitt Romney took several steps to the left today while responding to the Obama administration’s new deportation policy, which is similar to what the DREAM Act would do.

Obama announced the administration would stop deporting young undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria. Romnney indicated, surprisingly, that he has no problems with the policy itself, just the process by which it was implemented. Campaigning in New Hampshire this afternoon, Romney said, “I think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution because an executive order is, of course, a short-term matter and can be reversed by subsequent presidents.” He added, “I would like to seek legislation that deals with this issue and I happen agree with Marco Rubio — as he looked at, considered this issue, he said that this is an important matter that we have to find a long-term solution.”

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida who has been leading the GOP’s efforts to smooth things over with Hispanic voters, took a very careful position earlier in the day. Rubio embraced Obama’s policy — which is very similar to a bill Rubio himself has been pushing — while also criticizing the president for circumnavigating Congress. “Today’s announcement will be welcome news for many of these kids desperate for an answer, but it is a short-term answer to a long-term problem,” he said. “And by once again ignoring the Constitution and going around Congress, this short-term policy will make it harder to find a balanced and responsible long-term one.”

Romney’s endorsement of Rubio’s approach is a fairly major break from the immigration policy the former governor advocated just a few months ago. ”And I have indicated I would veto the DREAM Act,” Romney said during a Fox News debate in January. Responding to another candidate’s more liberal position, Romney said, “I think that’s a mistake. I think we have to follow the law and insist those who come here illegally ultimately return home, apply, and get in line with everyone else.” Romney especially savaged Texas Governor Rick Perry for being too soft on immigration. “I will not do anything that opens up another wave of illegal immigration,” he added. Indeed, Perry’s immigration stance helped lose him the nomination. Romney reaffirmed the veto threat several times later, prompting undocumented immigrants to follow Romney around chanting, “veto Romney, not the DREAM Act.”

Romney even refused to endorse Rubio’s approach just two months ago. Which raises the question: When Romney complains that Obama’s approach is bad because a future president could reverse it, does he mean himself?

 

 

Alex Seitz-Wald

Alex Seitz-Wald is Salon's political reporter. Email him at aseitz-wald@salon.com, and follow him on Twitter @aseitzwald. More Alex Seitz-Wald.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 19 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
From global warming to fluoride: Why do people deny science? An interesting question.
41 points42 points | 60 comments
vote
Developers evict historic women’s shelter to build luxury hotel - The 104-yr-old Anna Louise Inn has ended its 2-year legal battle with a Fortune 500 company & will now move. Many view the victory of the insurance company over a community touchstone as a major blow to the city.
33 points34 points | 2 comments
vote
Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
31 points32 points | 35 comments
vote
The GOP Is the 'Party of Crybabies' for Demanding No One Criticize Their Policies or Donors
23 points24 points | comment
vote
Illinois' fracking and coal rush is a national crisis: Illinois and its Mississippi River banks are becoming another ground zero in the war over climate change.
20 points21 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations