Election 2012: Immigration

ASTON, Pa. – If Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has an opinion on Sen. Marco Rubio’s scaled-back version of the DREAM Act, he’s not willing to share it just yet.

The act would grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants who were under the age of 16 when they were brought to the United States; hold a high school diploma; and have completed two years of college or military service.

“(Rubio) and I have spoken about his thinking on his version of a different act than the DREAM Act that’s been proposed in the Senate,” Romney told reporters here at a press availability ahead of his first joint event with Rubio, the GOP rising star and freshman senator from Florida. “The one that’s been proposed in the Senate creates a new category of citizenship for certain individuals. The senator’s proposal does not create that new category but instead provides visas for those that have come into the country that came in as young people with their families.”

“I’m taking a look at his proposal; it has many features to commend it but its something that we’re studying,” Romney added.

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Mitt Romney makes forceful bid for Fla. Latino vote

By Philip Rucker

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to the Hispanic Leadership Network in Miami on Friday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

MIAMI – Mitt Romney forcefully reached out to Hispanic Republicans here Friday, saying he would champion political and economic freedom in Cuba and throughout Latin America.

Trying to woo Florida’s influential bloc of Cuban American and other Hispanic Republican voters days before the state’s critical primary, Romney promoted his immigration and foreign policy agenda. He used particularly tough language to describe his stance against Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

“There is a time coming soon where Cuba will be free. That’s gonna happen,” Romney said. “But we’re gonna have to get organized for it. We’re gonna have to recognize that people there want freedom, as people do all over the world, and America can’t sit back.” He drew a loud, standing ovation from a crowd of several hundred at the Hispanic Leadership Network’s conference in Miami.