Campaign adviser talks about Romney's stance on immigration

We still haven’t gotten a clear answer from Romney on whether he would repeal the deferred action program or not. What does he plan to do with this federal program is he’s elected?

Immigration was left out off Mitt Romney’s speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention, disappointing many Latino voters who are still questioning where he stands on several issues related to the topic.

Campaign adviser talks about Romney's stance on immigration

Posted on September 1, 2012
By Griselda Nevarez
voxxi.com

VOXXI spoke with Hector Barreto, one of Romney’s campaign advisors, during the convention last week and asked him a few questions about the Republican presidential candidate’s position.

VOXXI: What does Mitt Romney think about the Republican Party’s immigration platform? Is his plan with immigration aligned to the GOP platform?

BARRETO: Gov. Romney has laid out and has talked about many times his plan for immigration reform. Unfortunately, under this administration we got nothing. They promised us in the first year that it would be a top priority. We’re in the fourth year and they haven’t done anything even when they could and had a Congress they controlled.

What Romney has said is, ‘Look, I’m not going to make any failed promises to the Hispanic community, and I’m also not going to do things right before an election that really don’t have a long-term effect. He has said that when he gets in there, he’s going to create a plan that actually fixes the immigration system. Immigration is an important part of our economic system, but it needs to be a system that works, that is relevant to today and that is legal.

VOXXI: We still haven’t gotten a clear answer from Romney on whether he would repeal the deferred action program or not. What does he plan to do with this federal program is he’s elected?

BARRETO: What he has said is that he will have his own action, but it won’t be a short-term thing and it won’t be something that separates families the way that this one does. One of the things that we never talk about is what about the parents of these kids. What about the grandparents of these kids. We want to keep families together, so Romney has said that he will put his own solution out there.

One of the things that he’s looking for is a complete solution. He’s not trying to piece-meal it here and there but he really wants to try to fix it once and for all, and we’re very serious about that. This also isn’t something the president can do by himself. The president is not king. The president cannot wake up one day and say, ‘We’re going to have a new immigration system.’ A president can lead on that issue. A president can work with Congress to address that issue, and that is what Romney has said he’ll do.

VOXXI: Romney said that as president, he would veto the DREAM Act if Congress passed it. Is that still his position?

BARRETO: I think there is always confusion on this issue. There are lot of versions of the DREAM Act. What Romney has said and what a lot of other Hispanic leaders, like Marco Rubio, have said is that they do not support the current version that was being brought in Congress.

What Romney has said is that he wants to do something different. Like if somebody gets an advanced degree, for example, he wants to staple a green card to it. That’s never been said before. He said, ‘Look, if we have people in the military right now who don’t have status, we need to take them into consideration.

There are a lot of things we can do, but again, what he won’t do is pander to the Hispanic community. He won’t promise he’ll do something in his first year and not do it. He won’t throw things out there a couple of months before an election because it’s an election cycle. He will not do those things.

VOXXI: Does the Romney campaign have a goal of what percentage of the Latino vote it hopes will go toward Romney?

BARRETO: We don’t have an official goal. What we’ve said is that we have to fight for every single vote. We have to earn the vote. We cannot take it for granted. We’ve said many times that the Hispanic vote is going to be critical in this election, and we’re going to go after it.

VOXXI: What are your thoughts on the Hispanic outreach that we saw at the Republican National Convention?

BARRETO: It’s very exciting. This is my fourth convention in a row, and I’ve never seen the participation from the Latino community like I’ve seen here.

It’s also important to note that all of the new Hispanic talent is on the Republican side. It’s not on the Democratic side. They have one senator. After this next election, we’ll have another senator, Ted Cruz. We already have three governors and more congressman are going to be elected to Congress from the Hispanic community, so that’s an exciting thing. And the reason it’s exciting is because that’s the future of the party, that’s the bench.

When people say how is the Republican Party going to reach out to the Hispanic community, you’re seeing how the Hispanic community is going to reach out to the Republican community – with all of these leaders who have great stories. They can really communicate and talk to our community.