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Mitt Romney to address volatile issue of immigration at Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
September 17th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
September 17th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is set to deliver a speech in which he will depict himself as the more worthy candidate on economy and immigration, a topic that has brought the Romney campaign considerable controversy. In an address to be delivered before the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 33d annual convention in Los Angeles, Romney will blame President Barack Obama for the 10 percent unemployment rate among Hispanics, higher than the national average of eight percent.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "For years, Republicans and Democrats seem to have been more interested in playing politics with immigration than with actually fixing it," an excerpt reads.The former Massachusetts governor saves his most virulent criticism about federal inaction on illegal immigration for Obama.
"Candidate Obama said that one of his highest priorities would be to fix immigration in his first year in office," Romney says. "Despite his party having majorities in both houses of Congress, the President never even offered up a bill. Like so many issues confronting our nation, when it comes to immigration, politics has been put ahead of people for too long."
Romney says he favors giving green cards to foreigners who study math, science and engineering in U.S. schools, and to undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children who commit to serving in the military.
Romney remains steadfast against forging a pathway to legalization for people who are here illegally.
Obama, along with many Democrats, has blamed Republicans for the absence of a comprehensive immigration reform bill during his administration.
Latino voters have reiterated in polls that they care most about the economy, the focal point of Romney's campaign platform.
Political observers and Latino community leaders maintain that the Republican Party turned off many Latinos during the GOP primary. The majority of the candidates at that time took a particularly hard line on immigration. Romney took a far harder line on immigration than any presidential candidate in recent history, political observers noted.
He has vowed to veto the so-called DREAM Act, a bill backed by Democrats that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
In addition, Romney is in favor of more security along the U.S.-Mexican border, official English legislation and making E-Verify, a fingerprint database that checks for immigration status, available nationwide.
Latinos aren't entirely satisfied with how the Democratic Obama has handled immigration. Many say the president Obama did not push comprehensive immigration reform with the same persistence and passion that he did healthcare reform. There's also the record number of deportations -- roughly 400,000 a year, most involving people with no criminal record -- that have occurred under his watch.
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