It's an inevitable progression as the general election winds down and demographic realities wind up, but this is something of note, via The Denver Post:
Young illegal immigrants who receive temporary work permits to stay in the United States under an executive order issued by President Barack Obama would not be deported under a Mitt Romney administration, the GOP presidential hopeful told The Denver Post Monday.
"The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. I'm not going to take something that they've purchased," Romney said. "Before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that I've proposed."
The AP's Kasie Hunt notes that he's been signaling more openness since the primary wrapped up.
After rival Rick Santorum dropped out of the primary, leaving Romney the presumptive Republican nominee, the former Massachusetts governor indicated he would review potential legislation from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio that would have allowed some young illegal immigrants a way to stay in the country.
At a Univision forum last month, Romney said: "I'm not going to be rounding people up and deporting them from the country. ... I will put in an immigration reform plan that solves this issue."
So far, Romney's messaging toward Hispanics hasn't veered too much from his overarching attack on rising unemployment rates and the Obama economy.
But is this an attempt -- 35 days before the election -- to make a more specific overture in policy toward the community? Is Romney beginning to grasp just how tough it'll be to win the election with only 26%-30% of Hispanics behind him (which is where he's consistently been)?
At one point, it seemed he could possibly win with support that low. Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa don't have Latino populations that appreciably move the needle in the state.
But with the Midwest looking less friendly, Romney might be turning his attention to western states like Colorado and Nevada, where Hispanics play a much bigger role.
[Hat tip: Rick Klein]
