Mitt Romney Runs as Immigration Hawk: ‘DACA Kids Shouldn’t All Be Allowed to Stay Legally’

Failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney signaled that he was against amnesty for DACA recipients, claiming that he was more of a “hawk” on immigration than President Donald Trump.

“I’m also more of a hawk on immigration than even the president,” Romney said while campaigning in Utah. “My view was these DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally.”

Romney’s new position suggests he is running right of his immigration views during his 2012 presidential campaign when he promised not to revoke DACA work permits issued by his opponent President Barack Obama.

“The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid,” Romney said at the time. “I’m not going to take something that they’ve purchased.”

The former presidential candidate was strongly criticized by the mainstream media after he promoted the idea of “self-deportation” for illegal immigrants in the Republican presidential primary for 2008.

Romney is currently running for the Utah United States Senate Seat to replace retiring Senator Orrin Hatch, despite his vocal opposition to President Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

In his introductory campaign video, Romney praised Utah for welcoming immigrants.

“Utah welcomes legal immigrants from around the world, Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion,” he said.