By Alex Leary and Adam C. Smith
ORLANDO -- Speaking before an influential Hispanic group Thursday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama has failed to enact immigration reform and offered his own plan, calling for permanent residency for highly skilled college graduates and members of the military and a “high-tech fence to enhance border security.”
But Romney did not address the biggest and most vexing immigration issue: What to do with the 11 million undocumented residents already living in the United States. And he was vague on how to deal with the children of illegal immigrants that a growing number of Republicans say should get some protection.
Overall, however, his tone and proposals marked a dramatic departure from the GOP primary, when he took hard-line immigration positions and attacked his rivals for being soft.
“Some people have asked if I will let stand the president’s executive action,” he said referring to Obama’s announcement last week that he would block deportation of young illegal immigrants. “The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president’s temporary measure. As president, I won’t settle for a stop-gap measure.”
His speech before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, was met with tepid applause but signaled his broadest remarks on immigration, which leapt back into focus with Obama’s announcement last Friday.
Romney’s campaign focus has been on the struggling economy and he quickly noted that it’s hitting Hispanics worse than the overall population — an 11 percent unemployment rate vs. 8.2 percent. He said Obama had failed.
“Almost four years ago, Americans did something that was very much the sort of thing Americans like to do: We gave someone new a chance to lead; someone we hadn’t known for very long, who didn’t have much of a record but promised to lead us to a better place,” Romney said.
Romney offered a rough outline of his immigration policy in a news release shortly before taking the stage.
It calls for permanent residency for highly skilled college graduates and members of the military, a streamlined work visa system and more border security. One of his best received proposals calls for giving legal permanent residents the same priority as citizens when applying to bring husbands, wives and minor children to the United States, and re-allocate green cards to family of citizens and legal permanent residents.
“We can find common ground here, and we must,” he said. “We owe it to ourselves as Americans to ensure that our country remains a land of opportunity — both for those who were born here and for those who share our values, respect our laws, and want to come to our shores.”
Reaction was mixed.
“I wish he’d given us more on the 11 million undocumented people already here, which is the trickiest and biggest problem,” said Ana Navarro, a former adviser to 2008 Republican nominee John McCain.
Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, echoed those remarks: “The bigger story is what he didn’t say. He missed an opportunity to lean more into that issue here.”
But she credited Romney for talking of the importance of protecting families with immigration policy and said his economic message will resonate with the hard-hit Hispanic community.
“He really made it clear that there is an alternative,” said Florida state Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Miami. “A lot of times we’re seen as a one issue demographic and we’re not. Education, economic opportunity, jobs is something we care very deeply enough. He addressed that.”