Here's how Mitt Romney
defined amnesty during last week's Republican debate:
Look, amnesty is a magnet. What when we have had in the past, programs that have said that if people who come here illegally are going to get to stay illegally for the rest of their life, that's going to only encourage more people to come here illegally.
But despite saying amnesty was unacceptable, when Wolf Blitzer asked Romney whether he supported Newt Gingrich's position in favor of giving legal status to people who have lived in the United States for decades and have been otherwise law-abiding residents, Romney punted:
I'm not going to start drawing lines here about who gets to stay and who gets to go.
The very next day, however, Romney drew a line:
Romney told Iowa voters during a Nov. 23 telephone call organized by his campaign that he has always believed that illegal immigrants should be sent back to their countries of origin to apply for such status. “I just don’t think that those who have come here illegally should be given a special pathway, a special deal,” Romney told a voter who questioned him on the issue.
That's basically the same position that Romney took in the 2008 campaign, but back in 2006 Romney was willing to say what Newt Gingrich said, which is that he would not forcibly deport people who have been here for decades and have contributed to their community.
In 2006, Romney said regarding undocumented immigrants in this country: “We’re not going to go through a process of tracking them all down and moving them out.”
He suggested that some could stay and pursue legal status while others are deported. “We should have those individuals who are here illegally begin a process either of returning to their homes -- particularly those that are unable to be here without government support or those who are involved in crime --or beginning a process of registering for a citizenship, applying for citizenship and then carrying out the process necessary to get there,” Romney said.
To recap:
- In 2006, Romney supported deporting some undocumented immigrants but allowing others to remain in the United States to gain legal status.
- In the 2008 campaign, Romney switched positions and supported deportation for all undocumented immigrants, but also said they should be allowed to apply for permanent residency or citizenship once they have left the U.S.
- Last Tuesday, Romney initially took an absolute hardline, saying he opposed allowing any undocumented immigrants to become permanent residents. He then implicitly contradicted himself by saying he wouldn't draw lines about "who gets to stay and who gets to go."
- On Wednesday, Romney appeared to return to his 2008 campaign position, saying he supported allowing undocumented immigrants to become permanent residents, but only if they were first deported.
If you're confused by all that, you're not alone. I think I count four different positions, three of them taken in the past week alone. And that's not just a flip-flop. It's a flip-flop-dodge, and it's Mitt Romney's specialty.
