The upcoming presidential election will seriously impact the political direction of the United States and it is important for everyone, and particularly immigrants, to be familiar with the positions of both major candidates. Governor Mitt Romney has his own ideas regarding immigration in America:
The United States’ political parties are sometimes described by the difference between their opinions on how the Constitution should be handled. Oftentimes the more liberal a politician is the more interpretive they become, insisting that the Constitution is not a hard and fast set of laws, but rather a set of guidelines. Conservatives on the other hand are generally originalists and wish to maintain the rule and law of the Constitution. It is this rigid and distinctly loyal interpretation of how the Constitution is to be read that helps inform Mitt Romney’s policies quite often.
Romney supports bringing immigrants into the United States legally with such things as the Green Card Lottery, but there are some policies that he opposes because they are in conflict with the rule of law. Why is the rule of law so important? Because without it the United States would be a lawless land, sure congress could make laws, but who would enforce them if the executive branch arbitrarily chose which laws to uphold.
It is to prevent an anarchic state that Romney must stick to the existing laws about immigration. In his opinion, and rightfully so, it is the job of congress to enact reforms as it sees fit and his sole responsibility is to uphold the laws that congress passes. This is why he adamantly opposes the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. By instituting the DACA program, the President is not enforcing a law that congress passed and that he is required to uphold.
Romney says that he will not revoke the work permits for the people who were granted deferred action this year—because, after all, they did pay for the administration of the permits—but rather institute a different program, one that doesn’t smack of amnesty. Amnesty is probably one of the worst ideas when it comes to immigration enforcement because it will encourage people to disobey American immigration laws in the future. This is against the most basic tenets of American government.
Romney tends to support immigration reform that in turn supports the economy of the country. Considering the poor economic condition of the United States this should be the primary focus of the United States.
By forgiving the unlawful activities of some immigrants in the United States nothing is being added to the United States, instead an additional burden is being placed upon tax payers to support these undocumented immigrants.
Though the Green Card Lottery does not necessarily offer much to the United States Mitt Romney will support the Diversity Visa lottery program because it was created by congress and it is of course his job to enforce this policy.