As we wrote yesterday, Mitt Romney’s NALEO speech left many questions unanswered regarding immigration policy, including whether or not a President Romney would rescind President Obama’s new directive to protect DREAM-eligible young people. It turns out that many others share our confusion, including a campaign policy advisor, who today predicted that Romney would rescind the order.
As Judd Legum of Think Progress reported, Ray Walser, a co-chair of Mitt Romney’s campaign for issues pertaining to Latin America, told the UK’s Daily Telegraph: “My anticipation is that he would probably rescind this directive were he to be elected in November.” Walser then followed up and “begged not to be quoted,” telling the Daily Telegraph reporter, “I’ve now had a little conversation with people from the campaign and they are concerned…They would really prefer that if you’re going to quote the Romney position, you get it from someone other than me.”
Greg Sargent of The Plum Line got it exactly right: “Despite the frantic spin from Romney’s supporters, reporters have correctly pointed out that we simply don’t know from what Romney has said what he would do about Obama’s policy. Would Romney rescind it right away? Or would he leave it in place until he came up with a replacement? And if Romney and Congress failed to come up with that replacement — which is very possible, given recent history — would Romney leave it in place indefinitely? These are fair questions to be asking. The answers could impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “Is it any wonder that people are confused about where Mitt Romney stands on President Obama’s bold step to protect young people known as the DREAMers? Is it any wonder his own advisor believes that Romney would rescind it? The campaign is desperate to not say where Romney stands because doing so would either outrage the nativists in the GOP, or turn off Latino voters open to voting Republican. One thing we do know for sure: for Mitt Romney, this has been no profile in courage.”
America’s Voice – Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform.
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