Romney Favors Visas for Seasonal Workers

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney takes a question from the audience at a Grand Traverse Republican Party breakfast in Traverse City, Mich. Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007, during a campaign swing through Michigan. (AP Photo/John L. Russell) (John L. Russell - AP)

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Saturday he favored more seasonal visas to foreign workers in industries such as agriculture and tourism.

Campaigning in northern Michigan, where many employers have struggled to fill jobs in hotels and restaurants during the summer tourist rush, Romney said more temporary workers should be allowed where there are labor shortages.

"The answer to that is simple, which is issue more visas," Romney told reporters. "If our employment sector needs additional immigrant laborers, then issue the visas necessary to provide that work force."

Federal law allows businesses in need of seasonal help to obtain what are known as H2B visas for foreign laborers _ if they can prove good-faith efforts to hire locally first.

During a campaign stop later in Grand Rapids, Romney said he favors a system that would identify people who legally entered the United States to work. Employers that continue to hire illegal immigrants would face government penalties.

"That'll stop the flow of people into this country for work because they won't be able to get work," Romney said.

Some in the hospitality industry worried that President Bush's immigration plan, which stalled in the Senate this year, would have meant more paperwork and hurdles to bring in seasonal workers.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said he could appreciate such concerns because some hotels and restaurants in the Cape Cod resort area had similar problems.

"I'm not going to leave America's employers without the capacity to meet the needs of our consuming public," he said.

Romney, whose father was a Michigan governor and president of American Motors Corp., said that if elected, he would try to help the struggling domestic auto industry by boosting federal investment in energy-efficient technology.

He said federal fuel economy standards have done little to improve gas mileage and have hurt domestic companies more than their foreign competitors.

"Automobile efficiency improvements are important but they should be reached on a collaborative basis with the auto industry," Romney said.

Romney also criticized the Democratic candidates who plan to bypass Michigan's primary after the state party moved up its contest in violation of Democratic National Committee rules.

"The Democrats' walking away from Michigan, I think, is one more reason why Michiganders will support my candidacy and recognize that for me, Michigan is personal. This is not a state I'd walk away from," Romney said.

In response, the state's Democratic chairman, Mark Brewer, said: "A Bush clone like Mitt Romney is going to have no attraction for Michigan voters."