HEMPSTEAD/New
York: US President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney
clashed Tuesday over illegal immigration in their testy second televised
debate three weeks before Americans go to the polls.The issue came up
in the second half of the 90-minute face-to-face, with the Romney
accusing Obama of failing to come up with an immigration reform bill as
he had promised before assuming office in 2009. 'When the president ran
for office, he said that he would put in place in his first year a piece
of legislation, file a bill in his first year, that would reform our
immigration system, protect legal immigration, stop illegal immigration.
He didn t do it,' Romney charged. Romney said he would encourage
immigration by people with skills while preventing undocumented
immigrants from accessing some government services. Obama fired back by
saying he had in fact tried to push through reform but ran into
Republican opposition in Congress. 'That s not true. I sat down with
Democrats and Republicans at the beginning of my term, and said: Let s
fix this system, including Republicans previously on the other side,'
Obama said. 'It s very hard for Republicans to support comprehensive
immigration reform if their standard-bearer says: This is not something
I m interested in supporting, ' he added.The president also argued that
in the Republican primaries the former Massachusetts governor rejected
the 'Dream Act,' which would legalize undocumented immigrants who came
to the country as children, and supported tough anti-immigrant
legislation in Arizona along the Mexican border.'Governor Romney said he
wasn t referring to Arizona as a model for the nation. His top adviser
on immigration is the guy who designed the Arizona law, the whole
thing,' the president said. 'That s his policy and it won t help us
grow.' The controversial Arizona law lets police stop and request ID
from people suspected of being undocumented immigrants, although other
even tougher parts of the law were struck down by the Supreme Court.
Critics of the Arizona law argue that it encourages racial profiling.
The government says some 11.5 million illegal aliens live in the United
States.Tuesday 16 October 2012
Obama, Romney clash on illegal immigration
HEMPSTEAD/New
York: US President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney
clashed Tuesday over illegal immigration in their testy second televised
debate three weeks before Americans go to the polls.The issue came up
in the second half of the 90-minute face-to-face, with the Romney
accusing Obama of failing to come up with an immigration reform bill as
he had promised before assuming office in 2009. 'When the president ran
for office, he said that he would put in place in his first year a piece
of legislation, file a bill in his first year, that would reform our
immigration system, protect legal immigration, stop illegal immigration.
He didn t do it,' Romney charged. Romney said he would encourage
immigration by people with skills while preventing undocumented
immigrants from accessing some government services. Obama fired back by
saying he had in fact tried to push through reform but ran into
Republican opposition in Congress. 'That s not true. I sat down with
Democrats and Republicans at the beginning of my term, and said: Let s
fix this system, including Republicans previously on the other side,'
Obama said. 'It s very hard for Republicans to support comprehensive
immigration reform if their standard-bearer says: This is not something
I m interested in supporting, ' he added.The president also argued that
in the Republican primaries the former Massachusetts governor rejected
the 'Dream Act,' which would legalize undocumented immigrants who came
to the country as children, and supported tough anti-immigrant
legislation in Arizona along the Mexican border.'Governor Romney said he
wasn t referring to Arizona as a model for the nation. His top adviser
on immigration is the guy who designed the Arizona law, the whole
thing,' the president said. 'That s his policy and it won t help us
grow.' The controversial Arizona law lets police stop and request ID
from people suspected of being undocumented immigrants, although other
even tougher parts of the law were struck down by the Supreme Court.
Critics of the Arizona law argue that it encourages racial profiling.
The government says some 11.5 million illegal aliens live in the United
States.
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