>>> gop presidential hopeful mitt romney gave a major speech on the sensitive topic of immigration today as he tries to gain some ground with hispanic voters. nbc 's peter alexander was there.
>> reporter: speaking before a convention of latino elected officials in florida --
>> we could find common ground here and we've got to.
>> reporter: mitt romney promised long-term immigration reform .
>> i'm going to address the problem of illegal immigration in a civil and resolute manner. we may not always agree but when i make a promise to you, i will keep it.
>> reporter: still, romney offered few specifics how he would handle the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the united states , again side stepping whether he would overturn the president's executive action , stopping the deportation of some undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children. but romney directly attacked the president who will speak to the same group tomorrow.
>> he did nothing to advance a permanent fix for our broken immigration system. nothing.
>> reporter: romney 's plan to encourage legal immigration includes giving green cards to immigrants who earned advanced degrees here and a path to legal status for immigrants who served in the military.
>> hi. how are you?
>> reporter: today romney shed the confrontational tone that he used to try to establish his conservative credentials during the republican primary .
>> they're going to find they can't get work here. if people don't get work here they'll self-deport to a place where they can get work.
>> reporter: now romney faced increased pressure to appeal to latinos with the latest nbc news/" wall street journal " poll showing hispanics favor the president by 34 points. republican strategists acknowledge their party needs to focus on hispanics, an issue among the topics to be addressed here in utah this weekend when mitt romney holds an exclusive two-day retreat with some of his largest donors, staff members, and top republicans. peter alexander , nbc news, salt lake city .