Romney Campaign Confirms He Would End Obama’s DREAM Directive

Mitt Romney tried to moderate his immigration positions on Monday before tonight’s debate in Colorado when he said he would not take away the temporary visas from undocumented immigrants who benefit from Obama’s deferred action policy. “I’m not going to take something that they’ve purchased,” he told The Denver Post. He added that before those two-year visas expire, “we will have the full immigration reform plan that I’ve proposed,” although he gave no details about his immigration plan.

Today, his campaign confirmed to the New York Times that Romney would end the program to grant deportation deferrals to young undocumented immigrants who qualify:

Julia Preston@JuliaPrestonNYT
Romney campaign confirms to NYT they will halt deferred deportations for undoc immigrants when he takes office, if elected
3 Oct 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Julia Preston@JuliaPrestonNYT
Romney campaign: he will honor deportation deferrals granted but halt the program when he takes office, seek "permanent" fix
3 Oct 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

As many as 1.7 million DREAM Act-eligible undocumented immigrants could benefit from the policy, which gives them temporary legal status to work in the U.S. More than 80,000 people have applied for deferred action since the policy went into effect on August 15, but the Huffington Post reports that the wait time for the process can take up to four to six months. In the first month, 29 undocumented immigrants received deferrals, so it is likely that most of the applicants will not receive an answer before the inauguration in January.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/10/03/951521/romney-campaign-confirms-he-would-end-obamas-dream-directive/