At a GOP presidential debate at USF in January, Mitt Romney was asked what he would do with the roughly 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
"We're not going to round people up the way that we have in this society, to say 'look, people who've come here illegally [should] be given a transition period.' … At that point they can decide whether to remain or return home," he said, advocating for immigrants to "self-import."
The answer wasn't a winner with immigrants or their advocates. Combined with earlier tough talk amongst his fellow GOP presidential candidates, it's one reason why Romney trails President Obama by a staggering 53 percent among the fastest growing voting demographic, according to a Latino Decisions poll released on Monday — a number so horrible it prompted South Florida Republican political consultant and analyst Ana Navarro to tweet, "It's time to press el Boton de PANICO."
On Monday afternoon, Romney briefly addressed the issue in a hyped-up speech to the Los Angeles Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He began by blasting Obama for his rhetoric — when he was running for office — regarding immigration.
This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2012.