Romney: Illegals Granted Amnesty Can Stay For Now

(Washington Times) — Moving to soften his immigration stance ever so slightly, Mitt Romney said this week he will not immediately deport the illegal immigrants granted tentative legal status by President Obama — and the Republican nominee also set a soft deadline for getting a broader immigration bill done in 18 months.

Mr. Romney had previously refused to say whether he would allow Mr. Obama’s non-deportation policy to stand, but on Monday he told The Denver Post that those who received “deferred action” — an official notice that they have a two-year reprieve from deportation — “should expect the visa to continue to be valid” if he is elected.

The move comes as polling shows Mr. Romney trailing badly among Hispanic voters ahead of next month’s election, and seems designed to convince them he will make exceptions to the hard-line crackdown he promised during the Republican primary debates. “The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. I’m not going to take something that they’ve purchased,” Mr. Romney told the Denver newspaper. “Before those visas have expired, we will have the full immigration reform plan that I’ve proposed.” Keep Reading RELATED STORIES