Announcement: Barack Obama said his new policy on immigration was 'the right thing to do' Barack Obama’s decision to allow up to allow up to 800,000 young illegal immigrants to remain in America has divided Republicans and was met with silence by his 2012 opponent Mitt Romney for nearly six hours. The Obama administration’s announcement that it would stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the US as children and have led law-abiding lives caught Romney by surprise. Eventually, Romney came out and said in almost conciliatory language that he believed Obama had addressed an ‘important matter’ with a short-term measure but the way it had been done ‘makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution.
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Obama: This is not amnesty, this is not immunity... this is right thing to do
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President used executive order on decision, bypassing Congress
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Romney waits six hours before saying policy was a short-term measure
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It mirrors that of proposal by Romney's tipped running mate Marco Rubio
Romney’s belated and muted reaction underlined just what a bind @placeholder had been placed in.