Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney made appearances on Univision television Wednesday in their latest attempts at courting Hispanic voters in Florida leading up to the Florida Republican primary election.
Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich were part of Univision’s “Meet the Candidates” forum Wednesday, which featured Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos asking each of them questions that are of importance to Hispanic voters.
During the debate moderated by NBC News in Tampa Bay Monday, Mr. Romney professed a policy that he labeled “self deportation,” in laying out his view for how the U.S. should deal with illegal immigrants. Mr. Ramos asked Mr. Romney to address the notion of “self deportation” during the forum Wednesday.
“I really want to protect legal immigration. I think it’s important for people to realize that illegal immigration has to stop or there will be an effort to stop legal immigration, or to slow it down or hold it down, which is a mistake. I want more, not less, legal immigration,” said Mr. Romney.
The former House speaker has one of the more lenient approaches to illegal immigration when compared to Mr. Romney and the remaining Republican presidential candidates. Mr. Gingrich has stated in several presidential debates that he is in favor of allowing illegal immigrants that have been in the U.S. for long periods of time to seek a path towards citizenship.
Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann accused Mr. Gingrich of supporting “amnesty” after he announced his support for such a policy.
When asked about Mr. Romney’s self deportation strategy, Mr. Gingrich took a shot at his rival’s wealth.
“I think you have to live in worlds of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatic $20 million a year income with no work to have some fantasy this far from reality,” said Mr. Gingrich.
In contrast to Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Romney has stated that if elected president he would veto the Dream Act, which was reintroduced in the House last summer. The Dream Act would allow illegal immigrants to obtain permanent residency based on certain conditions pertaining to their moral character, age and education.
The former Massachusetts governor has been criticized for supporting a veto of the Dream Act, especially considering the high number of Hispanic residents in Florida. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 22 percent of residents in Florida are of Hispanic descent.
Mr. Ramos also asked Mr. Romney to discuss his ethnic background regarding his father. He blatantly asked Mr. Romney if he was a Mexican American. The Bain Capital co-founder’s father George Romney was born in Mexico.
“I would love to be able to convince people of that, particularly in a Florida primary,” said Mr. Romney jokingly. “He [George Romney] was born of U.S. citizens who were living in Mexico at the time. He never spoke Spanish, nor did his parents. So I can’t claim that honor…. I don’t think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American.”
MSNBC analyst Lawrence O’Donnell accused former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum of subliminally taking a shot at Mr. Romney’s father and grandfather by talking about the experiences of his own grandfather who was an American war veteran.
The Univision news anchor also asked Mr. Romney if he would consider running for president with Mr. Gingrich as his vice presidential running mate, to which he said he would consider it despite the bitter ongoing feud they’ve engaged in recently.
Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney are hoping that their respective appeals to Hispanic voters will help win the upcoming Florida Republican primary election.
However, the eventual Republican nominee will face an uphill battle against Mr. Obama in the fall, as recent polls indicate that Hispanic voters nationwide overwhelmingly prefer the president over any of the remaining Republican candidates.
