Republican Primary Debate: Mitt Romney's Opinion

November 22, 2011
No Author, Quotes from the debate
The Issue of Immigration Raised to Republican Candidates

      In this debate, the following question was asked to all the candidates: "What would you do to ensure that the United States is as welcoming as possible to the world's skilled immigrants and entrepreneurs? " Mitt Romney replies to the question starting with, "Look, amnesty is a magnet". He basically says that the country needs to focus more on welcoming people that want to enter the country legally. There are many illegal immigrants in this country. He argues that if we allow them the come here illegally and get to stay here illegally then that's only going to make matters worse. Other people are going to want to enter the country illegally thinking there's nothing wrong and they can have a normal life like that. Many Americans argue that illegal immigrants are taking all the jobs; many argue that they are coming here and doing all the jobs no one else wants to do for little to anything. 
      Romney encourages a system that makes it easier for well educated people to gain citizenship. He states, "But to make sure we're able to bring in the best and brightest ... I'd staple a green card to the diploma of anybody who's got a degree of math, science, a Masters degree, Ph.D. We want those brains in our country." He takes a strong position against illegal immigration, and even points out that we have to stop it for the good of our country. He says," it is bringing in people who in some cases can be terrorists, in other cases they become burdens on our society." He's asked the big question about deportation for immigrants who are already here illegally. He says," The principle is that we are not going to have an amnesty system that says that people who come here illegally get to stay for the rest of their life in this country legally." I personally don't agree with most of the things he said. Many people would argue with his reasoning, especially people who had to come to the country legally and illegally for reasons beyond their control dealing with their home countries. He might get a lot of speculation on his statements, and turn away potential republican voters who could've been leaning towards him.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/2012-presidential-debates/republican-primary-debate-november-22-2011/