Obama’s immigration maneuver could box in Romney, GOP

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/24/153483/obamas-immigration-maneuver-could.html

Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2012

By Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers
By Erika Bolstad McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — In the week since President Barack Obama announced a plan that would allow some young illegal immigrants to stay in this country, Republicans have struggled to embrace any version of immigration reform.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has fumbled to answer questions about how he would handle such undocumented youth if he were elected president. And Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who never had a bill in writing but who began talking about his own immigration plan for young people this spring, told national news outlets that the president should have called him.

Obama took a similar idea as his, implemented it through the executive branch, "and now it’s the greatest idea in the world," the Florida senator complained Friday in Orlando in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, a day after Romney spoke to the gathering, and just before Obama himself took the stage. snip

Obama and many Democrats say that Republicans have had – and still have – plenty of opportunities to contribute, and are directly responsible for the current state of immigration politics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., this week accused Republicans, in particular Rubio, of expressing "phony outrage" over the administration’s policy. The administration’s directive allows young illegal immigrants who were raised in the United States to remain for two years under a deferred deportation.