Former Romney supporters leading immigration reform ‘super PAC’

Los Angeles Times, 11/18/2012

Carlos Gutierrez, who led Mitt Romney’s outreach to Latinos during the presidential campaign, had harsh words for the former nominee Sunday as he joined the growing number of conservative voices calling for immigration reform.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Gutierrez said he was “shocked” to hear about Romney’s recent call to campaign donors in which he credited President Obama’s “gifts” to various groups, including the Latino community, for his loss in the election.

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Poll watch: Latino vote remains high for Obama

Los Angeles Times, 11/5/2012

President Obama remains on track to receive more than 70% of Latino votes and perhaps win a record-high share, according to the final weekly tracking poll by the Latino Decisions polling firm.

The survey conducted for impreMedia, the publisher of La Opinion and other Spanish-language newspapers, shows Obama winning 72% of Latino voters compared with 23% for Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Among the voters most likely to turn out, Obama had a 73% to 24% advantage.

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Romney Threatens Pimco Favorite With QE Disdain: Mexico Credit

Bloomberg Businessweek, 11/5/2012

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney’s pledge to dump Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is threatening Bill Gross with losses on his Mexican bonds.

Yields on peso bonds due in 2024 fell 1.05 percentage points this year to 5.61 percent as the Fed’s effort to suppress borrowing costs at record lows caused fixed-income investors to pile into the debt to boost returns. Gross’s Pacific Investment Management Co., the biggest holder of the notes, called Mexican debt one if its favorites Oct. 3, three months after he said he preferred them over German bunds. Mexican bonds returned 19.2 percent this year, twice the average for emerging markets.

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Analysis: Obama and Romney Don’t Care About Latin America

ABC, 10/19/2012

We are almost through another presidential election and there has been a complete lack of serious discussion about U.S. relations with Latin America. In other words, it’s become evident that the candidates just don’t care. Even if they should During the last two decades, thanks to globalization, U.S. and Latin American economies and societies have become increasingly linked. This new dynamic suggests politicians should place a new focus on how to take advantage of opportunities like Latin America’s emerging middle class and reduce threats posed to mutual ties, like the violence and criminal activity of the drug war.

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Romney Won’t Revoke Immigrant Work Visas Under Obama’s Temporary Plan

Fox News Latino, 10/2/12

Mitt Romney

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he would honor temporary  work permits for young undocumented immigrants who were allowed to stay in the  U.S. because of President Barack Obama’s new temporary policy of so-called  “deferred action.”In an interview appearing in Tuesday’s Denver Post, Romney said that people  who are able to earn the two-year visas to stay and work wouldn’t see them  revoked under his administration. However, Romney did not say whether or not he  would undo Obama’s plan for future applicants.

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Bloomberg seeks immigration debate

Politico, 8/14/12

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought Tuesday to ignite debate over  immigration among the presidential contenders, saying there was no faster or  cheaper way to fix the nation’s economic problems than by abandoning “self-defeating” immigration policies…

Bloomberg has long argued that the United States is committing economic  suicide by sending the nation’s top international students and the world’s most  promising entrepreneurs to other shores. In Chicago, he pointed to a study  released Tuesday by a partnership of U.S. mayors and business leaders that he  co-chairs, which found, among other things, that immigrants were responsible for  one out of four new businesses started last year.

“I know of no ways to help our economy as quickly and as cost-free as opening  up proper ways to people who will come here, create jobs, create businesses,  help our universities,” Bloomberg said. “Immigration is what built the country,  immigration is what kept this country going for the last 235 years and now we  seem to have walked away from it.”

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New poll: After SB1070 decision Obama widens lead over Romney among Latinos

Latino Decisions, 7/18/12

Latino Decisions released new national poll of Latino registered voters showing Barack Obama winning 70% of the Latino vote compared to 22% for Mitt Romney.  The poll, commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and America’s Voice,  illustrates an increase in support for President Obama, and comes after a month of outreach to Latino voters, starting with the June 15 Dream announcement, appearances by the President and Vice President at NALEO and NCLR conferences, and comments opposing Arizona’s SB1070 immigration law.  This poll marks the first time Obama has received 70% of the vote in Latino Decisions polling on the presidential election over the past 20 months.

Obama maintains a substantial lead over Romney within nearly all segments of the Latino electorate.  Among foreign-born, naturalized citizens Obama leads 72% to 19% and among U.S.-born Latinos he leads 69% to 25%.  Similarly, Obama polls ahead of Romney by a large margin, 76% to 15% among Spanish dominant Latinos, and also has a healthy lead of 66% to 28% from English dominant.  Two concerns for Romney may that 13% of self-identified Latino Republicans say they will cross-over and vote for Obama and 60% of Independents plan to vote for Obama.  In contrast only 2% of Democrats say they plan to vote for Romney.

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In Speech, Romney Takes Softer Tone on Immigration

Michael Shear & Trip Gabriel, The Caucus, The New York Times,  6/21/2012

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney on Thursday offered what he called a strategy for “bipartisan and long-term immigration reform” in an address to a convention of Latino elected officials in Florida.

“Some people have asked if I will let stand the president’s executive action,” he said. “The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president’s temporary measure.”

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Fla. GOPers: Mitt needs immigration plan

Politico, 6/21/2012

The consensus among Republican strategists in this key state: Mitt Romney needs  a clear immigration policy, and fast.

President Barack Obama’s announcement last week that he would stop deportation  of some young illegal immigrants put the presumptive Republican presidential  nominee on the defensive with a key constituency. Romney hasn’t clearly stated  whether he would revoke the presidential order if he wins in November,  explaining only that he prefers a comprehensive approach to immigration reform…

He will address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed  Officials here on Thursday afternoon. But Romney’s speech is expected to only  touch on immigration while the main focus will be the economy, which polls say  is still the No. 1 issue for Hispanic voters, like the rest of the nation.
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Romney accuses Obama of political motivation on immigration

Reuters, 6/18/12

Romney, who is poised to face Obama in the November 6 election, questioned the Democratic president’s timing in an interview aired on Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

“If he really wanted to make a solution that dealt with these kids or with illegal immigration in America, then this is something he would have taken up in his first 3 1/2 years, not in his last few months,” Romney said.

Asked if he thought Obama’s order was motivated by politics, Romney said, “That’s certainly a big part of the equation…”

During the CBS interview, Romney was asked repeatedly whether he would repeal the Obama policy if elected president, but did not offer a direct answer. “My anticipation is I’d come into office and say we need to get this done on a long-term basis, not this kind of stop-gap measure,” Romney said.

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