Mitt Romney: I'm more conservative than President Trump on fate of DACA recipients
Mitt Romney: I'm more conservative than President Trump on fate of DACA recipients
Eliza Collins, USA TODAY Published 2:20 p.m. ET March 27, 2018 | Updated 5:29 p.m. ET March 27, 2018
Romney: I'm more of a hawk on immigration than Trump
Romney, speaking during a Q&A in Provo, Utah, on Monday, was asked if the former presidential candidate considered himself to be conservative.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/059...T-98559355.JPGIn this March 3, 2018, file photo, Mitt Romney speaks with a group during a breakfast event in Green River, Utah. Romney is running to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate. (Photo: Rick Bowmer, AP)
Romney said he was “more of a hawk on immigration than even the president. My view was these DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally," according to The Daily Herald.
“DACA kids” refers to the 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and received protections from deportation under an Obama-era order, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump reversed that order in the fall and gave Congress six months to come up with a permanent solution. The legislative body has failed to move forward, but, a Supreme Court ruling last month means the program will continue through at least through the fall as it legal challenges run the normal course through the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Despite ending the program, Trump has said he wants to find a solution that would allow DACA recipients — and potentially more than 1 million other undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children but did not qualify for DACA — to stay in the United States legally. However, in exchange, the president has demanded $25 billion for a wall along the southern border and dramatic cuts to legal immigration, which Democrats say they cannot support.
Romney, who is running in Utah's Senate race to replace retiring Orrin Hatch, said he was against giving citizenship to the 1.8 million people.
“I was more conservative than others in my party. Now I will accept the president’s view on this, but for me, I draw the line and say, those who’ve come illegally should not be given a special path to citizenship,” Romney said.
The former Massachusetts governor also said he was more fiscally conservative than the president and many other Republicans. Congress passed — and Trump signed — a $1.3 trillion spending bill last week.
Romney and the president have had a difficult history. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Romney called Trump a "phony," "fraud" and "con man." But they buried the hatchet after the election when Trump reportedly considered Romney to be secretary of state. The president has now endorsed Romney for the Senate seat.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/03/27/mitt-romney-im-more-conservative-than-president-trump-fate-daca-recipients/463033002/
