Mitt Romney was asked during his interview with Fox News on Monday to address once again President Barack Obama's decision to stop deporting undocumented youth who have graduated from high school or served in the military. And for the second time in as many days, he stayed vague on whether or not he would rescind the order upon taking office.
“You know, we will see kind of what the calendar looks like at that point and I am not going to tell which items will come first, second, or third," Romney said, according to transcripts released by Fox News. "What I can tell you is that those people who come here by virtue of their parents bringing them here, who came in illegally, that’s something I don’t want to football with as a political matter."
As was the case with Romney's CBS "Face the Nation" interview on Sunday, this was a largely evasive answer. And Fox News' Carl Cameron, sensing that evasion, asked why the presumptive Republican nominee was fine saying he'd repeal Obamacare but unwilling to say as much about this quasi-Executive Order.
“Well, when we talk about illegal immigration I think I want to start by saying we need to secure the border, we’ve got to have an employment verification system, and then with regards to these children who came here brought in by their parents who came in here illegally, how we deal with them is something I think that deserves a long term solution and I don’t think we go jumping from one solution to the other," Romney replied. "The president I think made a mistake by putting out there what he called a stop-gap measure; I think that’s not the right way to go. I’m not going to be looking for stop gap-measures; I’m going to be looking for a permanent or a long-term solution that’s something I will start on day one. Actually, as soon as I get elected hopefully, I will start working on this issue and hopefully be ready to go immediately.”
Romney may, indeed, be more interested in crafting broader immigration reform -- though his promise to veto the DREAM Act suggests he's far more interested in border enforcement than reform. He may find the idea of a stopgap measure bad politics and bad policy. But the idea that he will somehow craft legislation and get it ready to be implemented upon him taking office Jan. 20, is truly wishful thinking considering how hard it proved to pass during the latter Bush years and early Obama years.
Below, a slideshow of politicians' reactions to the Obama administration's announcement:
