Romney says he will ‘replace and supersede’ Obama’s immigration plan

By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 8 mins ago...

Mitt Romney will criticize President Obama's immigration plan on Thursday, saying that as president, he will "put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the President's temporary measure," according to excerpts of his speech.

Romney's comments--which he will make Thursday afternoon in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla.--suggest he would favor a path to legalization for young illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children. But a release sent out by Romney's campaign only mentions that young illegal immigrants who decide to serve in the military should be given legal status.

In the speech, Romney also says he would make it easier for legal immigrants to bring their spouses and children to America, as well as beef up temporary work visas for low-skilled workers. He also reiterates that he thinks foreign students who get advanced degrees in America should be given green cards.

President Obama's bombshell immigration announcement on Friday has forced Romney to address immigration head-on, instead of just emphasizing the recession's impact on Latinos and reminding Latino audiences that Obama failed to pass immigration reform as he promised. Republicans and Romney surrogates have criticized the president's decision to stay the deportation of young illegal immigrants as political, but before Thursday, Romney had repeatedly refused to say whether he would repeal the policy if elected president. Instead he has criticized the move as being easily reversible and only offering a temporary solution. That's a big departure from Romney's rhetoric during the primary, when he said he would strengthen the enforcement of immigration laws so that millions of the country's illegal immigrants would "self deport."

Romney says he will