December 2, 2011

Democrats attack Mitt Romney on immigration

Washington – Democrats, who have launched an advertising campaign against Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, on Thursday attacked the former Massachusetts governor again warning of the effects his hardline immigration policy could have.

Romney "will do anything" to get the votes of the most extremist Republicans with an eye toward the primaries, and that "could put the future of immigrant families in danger if he gets to the presidency," Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) told Efe.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee on Monday launched several ads emphasizing the contradictions in the message being espoused by the Republican hopeful and ironically suggesting that, in really, there are two Romneys living within the same body.

"What I think, and it's a personal opinion, is that Romney wants to be president of the U.S. and he's going to do and say what's necessary to get there. Unfortunately, that includes changing his opinion and harming the lives of many people," Becerra said.

Romney, who had supported the bipartisan immigration reform promoted by John McCain and the late Ted Kennedy in the past, has made an aboutface on the subject and has started saying in public that the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States must return to their countries of origin.

"Mitt Romney seems to have changed his opinion once again. One day he's saying one thing, the next day something else, and with regard to our Latino community it's very important because it seems that if he's finally the Republican presidential nominee he could become the most extreme presidential candidate we've seen during this period on immigration," said the congressman.

Becerra said that Romney's stance is not only cause for concern among immigrant sectors but for anyone who is interested in the rights of these communities.

"Being Democrat or being Republican doesn't matter. The political stance Romney's taking should set off an alarm in the mind of any Latino because what he's saying today is completely contradictory to what he said in the past and it puts many people in danger who are benefiting from the executive changes President Obama has made," Becerra said.

However, the immigration reform promised by Obama when he entered the White House has never come to fruition and this is one of the most important demands the Hispanic community is making of him.

Becerra insisted that the Latino community has to be paying attention to which Mitt Romney wins the battle, "the earlier one or the current one."

"Nobody knows who's going to win that fight, but if the anti-Latino and anti-immigrant Mitt Romney wins, we should be very worried," he added.

http://latino.foxnews.com