Lakhota
Diamond Member
By Adam Serwer
During the Republican Primary, Mitt Romney had a very clear position on immigration: All unauthorized immigrants need to leave.
Heading into the general election, Romney's position on immigration now sounds more like a relationship status on Facebook: It's complicated.
In his speech before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Thursday, Romney dodged most of the direct questions about what he'd do on immigration policy while attempting to strike a moderate tone at odds with his primary rhetoric about making undocumented immigrants lives so miserable that they "self-deport." Having spent months appealing to the anti-immigrant base of the GOP to out-conservative Rick Perry and New Gingrich on the issue, Romney has now shifted to a strategy of strategic obfuscation. In a speech touted by his campaign as a "long-term strategy" on immigration reform, Romney completely avoided the two big questions: How will Romney deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the US, and what will he do about the DREAM Act-eligible immigrants Obama spared from deportation last week? Romney offered nothing resembling a straight answer to either of these questions.
More: Romney to Latinos: Pay No Attention to That Man From the GOP Primary | Mother Jones