KEY PLAYER PROFILE

Mitt Romney

Republican U.S. Senator from Utah

In an increasingly divided Republican Party, Utah Senator Mitt Romney defines the Never Trump moderate branch. During Trump’s first impeachment trial, he was the only Republican to vote to convict the president on the charge of abuse of power. It’s not the only time Romney has gone against the conservative grain: he’s marched with Black Lives Matter protesters, spoken out against “extreme” anti-abortion laws, and as governor of Massachusetts (2003 – 2007) enacted statewide health insurance reforms that later inspired sections of Obamacare. 

Romney opposed some of Trump’s most controversial immigration policies, such as the Muslim travel ban, the “zero tolerance” family separation policy, and the emergency declaration to divert funding to the border wall.  But he has called himself “more of a hawk” on immigration than Trump, especially in reference to the fact that Trump attempted to bargain with Democrats by including a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients in an early version of his 2018 omnibus spending bill. Romney, originally an opponent of DACA altogether, has come to support a permanent protected status, but no special pathway to citizenship, for DACA recipients. He has proposed that the only exception should be a pathway to citizenship through military service.

During his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Romney sought to differentiate himself from his fellow primary candidates by doubling down on a hard-line set of policies aimed at getting undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.” Romney’s plan included barring undocumented immigrants from public services and from employment by making E-Verify work authorization checks mandatory for employers nationwide. In primary debates he highlighted that as governor of Massachusetts he blocked undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses and vetoed a measure to give undocumented students an in-state tuition rate at public universities — the latter a jab at his primary opponent, Texas Governor Rick Perry, who had recently signed off on a similar measure in Texas.

Romney framed the self-deportation approach as a humane and efficient alternative to ICE raids, mass roundups, and forced deportations. But critics allege that such policies would harm the economy and lead to racial profiling and harassment. In their 2012 ruling on Arizona v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most sections of an Arizona law aimed at attrition-by-enforcement, which put Romney in an uncomfortable position: his immigration advisor, Kris Kobach, was one of the architects of the law. Romney distanced himself from Kobach, but also said ambiguously that he “would have preferred to see the Supreme Court give more latitude to the states, not less.”

During his 2018 run for the Senate, Romney began advocating for the establishment of a points-based system for assigning visas. Such a system would prioritize immigrants based on their English language fluency, job skills, familial connection to the United States, and level of education. Notably, Romney specified that his version of a points system would award more points the longer an applicant has been waiting for approval, a criteria that would benefit DACA recipients, whose time spent in the U.S. would count toward their waiting time. The idea of a points system has broad bipartisan appeal: it was included in the “Gang of Eight” 2013 immigration reform bill, which united Republicans and Democrats in the Senate but failed to come to a vote in the Republican-controlled House.

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Romney’S IDEAS

  • Border Security

    Romney has argued for increased border personnel, better technology on the border, and an efficient entry-exit system to track visitors.

  • Border Wall

    Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign platform included a plan to build a border fence, but he has specified that he believes other elements, such as surveillance and features of the natural landscape, can help create a secure border. Romney and fellow Utah Senator Mike Lee opposed Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the southern border after learning that the emergency funding for the wall would be diverted from military infrastructure projects at a U.S. Air Force base in Utah.

  • Detention

    Romney has criticized both the Obama administration’s policy of releasing asylum seekers deemed to pose a low flight risk from detention pending their appearance in immigration court, and the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. He called the practice of child-separation “a dark chapter in American history.”

  • Immigration Courts

    As governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed off on a law requiring immigration judges to notify defendants if filing a guilty plea would result in deportation.

  • Undocumented Population

    Romney is an outspoken supporter of “attrition by enforcement,” or the idea that effectively barring undocumented immigrants from employment and public services will cause them to leave the country on their own. He supports making the E-Verify employment authorization system mandatory nationwide. As governor of Massachusetts, he blocked undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses and vetoed a measure to give undocumented students an in-state tuition rate at public universities.

  • ICE

    “I’m not in favor of buses and ICE agents going across the country, rounding up 11 million people and deporting them all,” Romney said while campaigning for Senate in 2018, adding that he prefers policies that encourage self-deportation.

  • DACA

    Romney initially opposed DACA, but has come to believe that DACA recipients should have a protected status. He believes DACA recipients should not be offered a pathway to citizenship unless they serve in the military.

  • Asylum

    Romney has called asylum a “magic word” that allows an unsustainable flow of migrants into the country, but has not offered a plan to reform asylum policy.

  • Central America Policy

    Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign platform included a detailed Latin American intervention plan that focused on promoting free enterprise and democracy over socialism, expanding trade opportunities, and combating the drug trade by forming an international task force on crime and terrorism.

  • Visas

    Romney supports developing a points system that would award visas based on English fluency, job skills, level of education, and familial connections to the U.S. The system would also prioritize applicants who had been waiting longer “in line,” including DACA recipients. He has argued for increasing the number of high-skilled visas and raising the per-country caps on employer-sponsored immigration. His 2012 presidential campaign platform argued that “every foreign student who obtains an advanced degree in math, science, or engineering at a U.S. university should be granted permanent residency.” He would like to eliminate the Diversity Visa lottery and limit family-sponsored immigration. He supports making the E-Verify work authorization system mandatory for all employers and penalizing those who don’t comply, and in 2021 he introduced legislation tying mandatory E-Verify to an increase in the minimum wage.

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