ORLANDO, Fla. — A week after unveiling a new immigration policy, President Obama will speak to a large conference of Latinos here Friday, hoping to rally a constituency that could be crucial to his reelection campaign.
Obama is scheduled to address hundreds of members of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, just a day after his likely Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, appeared at the same conference. Romney, who courted conservative primary voters with hard-line opposition to illegal immigration, began an attempt to soften his image by pledging Thursday to loosen some restrictions on the flow of legal foreign workers.

The president had made his own play for Hispanic support last week when he announced in the Rose Garden that his administration would stop deporting some illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children and have gone on to be productive and otherwise law-abiding residents.
Hispanics, who had helped power Obama’s 2008 victory, had grown increasingly frustrated with his administration over the slow progress of immigration reform. In 2008, Obama had told the NALEO conference that immigration would be a top priority, but he had little to show for it after the defeat of the “Dream Act,” the legislation intended to put many illegal immigrant students and veterans on a path to citizenship.
But Hispanics were buoyed by Obama’s announcement last week. A new poll by Latino Decisions out Friday showed Obama holding a commanding lead over Romney in several swing states, including Arizona and Virginia.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama would lay out his message of building a strong middle class during his remarks at the conference, including touching on immigration policy. Earnest emphasized that the administration does not believe the policy directive announced last week is a substitute for a more permanent solution to immigration reform that would require congressional action.

“The president’s record in prioritizing comprehensive immigration reform speaks for itself,” Earnest said. “Unfortunately, it was a priority to block him time and time again by Republicans in Congress .