Mitt Romney Deferred Action Immigration Switch Puts GOP Hardliners On Mute

[JoseG 383]

Thought this was pretty funny. Obama gives us Deferred Action and GOP criticizes and bashes him, then Romney backs it up and everyone stays quiet. This could be the final nail in the coffin for Mittens.

http://www.huffingto...=elections-2012

DENVER, Colo. -- Republican immigration hawks were quiet on Tuesday after GOP nominee Mitt Romney said he would honor deferred action granted by the Obama administration for some undocumented young people -- a policy they have decried as amnesty and a massive overreach of executive power.

Put in the uncomfortable position of either criticizing their party's presidential nominee or softening their condemnation of deferred action, Republicans so far have said nothing. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the hardliner behind Arizona immigration law SB 1070, declined to comment. So did House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who threatened to sue President Barack Obama, did not return a request for comment. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer ®, another top critic of Obama on immigration, and Texas senatorial candidate Ted Cruz, who said Romney should end the policy, also failed to return calls.

Even those who were somewhat supportive of Obama's reprieve to undocumented young people, although not the manner in which the president issued the order, were quiet. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who planned earlier this year to author a bill to do something similar to Obama's action, ignored a request for comment, as did Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who previously pushed for comprehensive immigration reform.

The issue of deferred action demonstrates Romney's awkward predicament as he attempts to woo Latino voters he alienated during the primary. A CNN poll released on Tuesday put him 44 percentage points behind Obama among Latino voters, who ranked immigration as the second-highest priority issue -- although most said the economy was more important -- and said Obama could better handle immigration concerns. Republicans, though, have to contend with a prominent contingent of their party that opposes anything they can define as "amnesty," a movement that killed ex-President George W. Bush's effort at immigration reform and led to numerous state bills aimed at driving undocumented immigrants from the U.S. Romney seemed to be playing to that GOP wing in the primary. Now, though, he seems to be trying to move back.