Mitt Romney has been making headlines of late by - in his typical style - clumsily articulating multiple positions on illegal immigration that could be interpreted anywhere from "throw them all out of the country right now, kids and all" to "what Newt said." But as he continues to toy with different stances on the issue to appeal to different audiences, he should proceed with caution, lest he ends up advocating policies that might very well have affected himself. In the category of you really couldn't make this stuff up, some interesting facts about the potential 2012 GOP nominee below the fold (in case you didn't know)...
Mitt Romney's great-grandparents fled the United States well before the turn of the last century to avoid prosecution under federal laws banning polygamy. They were involved in establishing the Mormon colonies in Mexico, eventually settling in the State of Chihuahua.
Polygamy was also officially illegal in Mexico, but since there were no active raids on polygamists being conducted by federal agents as there were in the US at the time, they preferred Mexico as a place to live in criminality.
Romney's paternal grandparents, Gaskell and Anna Amelia Romney (not polygamists), had both been born in the US, so despite growing up almost entirely in Mexico to parents who had for all practical purposes renounced their US citizenship (though not officially), they were still entitled to US citizenship thanks in large part to something called the 14th Amendment (not the most popular provision of the US Constitution among the GOP base these days).
After the Mexican Revolution erupted in 1910, the Mormon colonists in Chihuahua increasingly feared for their safety. After negotiations with the leaders of the revolution, women and children were allowed to leave the colony in Chihuahua, and Anna Amelia Romney took advantage by taking her son George - who had been born in Chihuahua - with her on a train that crossed into the US (apparently they were able to get in without travel documents...imagine someone attempting that today). Gaskell Romney later joined them by simply crossing the porous border undetected.
Like many of today's Mexican immigrants, the family found work where they could picking fruits and on construction jobs, at one point unsuccessfully attempting to start a farm.
Young George of course went on to become a successful businessman and political figure, a candidate for the Presidency in 1968 (I wonder what Orly Taitz and Trump would have thought of that), and the father of four children including Mitt.
Since Mitt's mother, Lenore, was American-born, he avoids by one chromosome, any possibility of being called an "anchor baby". Nonetheless, Mitt should be careful when he tries to appeal to the more rabid anti-immigrant elements of the Republican base.
One could easily imagine any of the following lines drawing huge applause in such crowds:
"If you willingly leave this country to live somewhere else so you can engage in criminal activity, then you should lose your American citizenship!"
"We have got to stop rewarding bad behavior, and that means if you were brought to this country illegally, even if you were just a kid, you need to leave right away and go to the back of the line. If we start giving amnesty to children then everyone will bring their children here illegally."
"Birthright citizenship as per the 14th amendment needs to be repealed! It is too much of a draw for unwanted elements in the country. American citizenship is precious and it shouldn't be given away so easily."
Can't you just hear the voice of a Michelle Bachman or Tom Tancredo making statements like these? The thing is, if any of these genius policy ideas were actually to have come to pass, it would have dramatically affected the trajectory of Mitt Romney's life. We likely would not be talking about him today as a candidate for President.
Mitt should bear such thoughts in mind as he from time to time dips his toes into the pool of hardline anti-immigrant fervor.