Politics

Romney agrees with Rubio on immigration policy: ‘We have to find a long-term solution’

Matthew Boyle Investigative Reporter
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Friday afternoon, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that he tends to agree with Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s stance on immigration policy.

In response to President Barack Obama’s changed position on the issue — and decision to selectively enforce illegal immigration law — Rubio said it’s a “short-term answer to a long-term problem.”

“I believe the status of young people who come here through no fault of their own is an important matter to be considered and should be solved on a long-term basis, so they know what their future would be in this country,” Romney said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller. “I think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution because an executive order is, of course, just a short-term matter — it can be reversed by subsequent presidents.”

“I’d like to see legislation that deals with this issue, and I happen to agree with Marco Rubio as he looked at this issue,” Romney continued. “He said that this is an important matter, that we have to find a long-term solution, but that the president’s action makes reaching a long-term solution more difficult. If I’m president, we’ll do our very best to have that kind of long-term solution that provides certainty and clarity for the people who come into this country through no fault of their own by virtue of the action of their parents.”

Some other Republicans have taken harsher stances on the president’s decision to selectively enforce the law. Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King said he’s going to sue the Obama administration, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King said his committee is “launching an immediate review” of the policy shift. (RELATED: Rubio calls Obama plan ‘a short-term answer to a long-term problem)

Arizona Sen. John McCain — the 2008 GOP presidential candidate who lost to Obama – said in statement that the Obama policy shift “is a politically-motivated power grab that does nothing to further the debate but instead adds additional confusion and uncertainty to our broken immigration system.”

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