Campaign Statements — Mitt Romney

Saturday April 21, 2012

“Obama…has brought hard times to Hispanics.”

“The Obama administration has brought hard times to Hispanics in America. Under President Obama, more Hispanics have struggled to find work than at any other time on record.”

CATEGORIES: Immigration | Mitt Romney |

Monday April 02, 2012

“Our immigration policies are upside down.”

“That is something that I will not just talk about in this campaign. This will be a priority of mine if I become president to make sure we finally reform our immigration laws step by step, secure the border, improve our legal immigration system, so we can keep people here and welcome people here who will make America a stronger nation.

My own view is our immigration policies are upside down. We make it very hard for people who have skills that we need — education and English-speaking and workplace skills — make it very hard for those people to come here and to stay here. On the other hand, those that don’t have any of those things are often times able to come either across the border or over-stay their visas and remain in this country indefinitely. So we’ve got it backwards.”

CATEGORIES: Immigration | Mitt Romney |

Monday April 02, 2012

“He uses [immigration] as a political weapon.”

“[Immigration] has always been a priority for the President he chooses to do nothing about. Let the immigrant community not forget that, while he uses this as a political weapon, he has not taken responsibility for fixing the problems we have.”

CATEGORIES: Immigration | Mitt Romney |

Wednesday February 22, 2012

“Syria is [Iran’s] only ally in the Arab world [and] provides a shadow over Lebanon.”

“Syria is [Iran’s] key ally. It’s their only ally in the Arab world. It is also their route to the sea. Syria provides a shadow over Lebanon. Syria is providing the armament of Hezbollah in Lebanon that, of course, threatens Israel, our friend and ally.

We have very bad news that’s come from the Middle East over the past several months, a lot of it in part because of the feckless leadership of our president. But one little piece of good news, and that is the key ally of Iran, Syria, has a leader that’s in real trouble. And we ought to grab a hold of that like it’s the best thing we’ve ever seen.

There’s things that we’re having a hard time getting our hands around, like, what’s happening in Egypt. But in Syria, with Assad in trouble, we need to communicate to the Alawites, his friends, his ethnic group, to say, look, you have a future if you’ll abandon that guy Assad.

We need to work with Saudi Arabia and with Turkey to say, you guys provide the kind of weaponry that’s needed to help the rebels inside Syria. This is a critical time for us.

If we can turn Syria and Lebanon away from Iran, we finally have the capacity to get Iran to pull back. And we could, at that point, with crippling sanctions and a very clear statement that military action is an action that will be taken if they pursue nuclear weaponry, that could change the course of world history.”

CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Iran | Mitt Romney |

Wednesday February 22, 2012

“[Military options] are not just on the table. They are in our hand.”

“This is a president who has made it clear through his administration in almost every communication we’ve had so far, that he does not want Israel to take action. That he opposes military action. This is a president who should have instead communicated to Iran that we are prepared, that we are considering military options. They’re not just on the table. They are in our hand. We must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. If they do, the world changes. America will be at risk. And some day, nuclear weaponry will be used. If I am president, that will not happen. If we reelect Barack Obama, it will happen.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Mitt Romney |

Wednesday February 22, 2012

“[Obama] should have put in place criplling sanctions against Iran.”

“Nothing in my view is as serious a failure as [President Obama’s] failure to deal with Iran appropriately. This president should have put in place crippling sanctions against Iran, he did not. He decided to give Russia their number one foreign policy objective, removal of our missile defense sites from Eastern Europe and got nothing in return. He could have gotten crippling sanctions against Iran. He did not. When dissident voices took to the street in Iran to protest a stolen election there, instead of standing with them, he bowed to the election.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Mitt Romney |

Wednesday February 22, 2012

“We simply cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weaponry.”

“Look, the price of gasoline pales in comparison to the idea of Ahmadinejad with nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad having fissile material that he can give to Hezbollah and Hamas and that they can bring into Latin America and potentially bring across the border into the United States to let off dirty bombs here. I mean, or more sophisticated bombs here, this—we simply cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weaponry.”

CATEGORIES: Iran | Mitt Romney |

Wednesday February 22, 2012

“The Arab Spring has become the Arab Winter.”

“The world is more dangerous. It is not safer. North Korea is going through transition. The Arab Spring has become the Arab Winter. Syria is in flux. And, of course, Pakistan, with 100 nuclear weapons or more, represents a potential threat. Northern Mexico is a real danger area.

I mean, looking around the world, you have Hezbollah in Latin America and Mexico. I mean, we face a very dangerous world. The right course is to add ships to our Navy, to modernize and add aircraft to our Air Force, to add 100,000 troops to our active-duty personnel, and to strengthen America’s military.”

CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Mitt Romney | War on Terror |

Wednesday February 22, 2012

“As Arizona is finding out, you can stop illegal immigration.”

“I’ll also complete the fence. I’ll make sure we have enough border patrol agents to secure the fence. And I will make sure we have an E-Verify system and require employers to check the documents of workers, and to check E- Verify. And if an employer hires someone that has not gone through E- Verify, they’re going to get sanctioned just like they do for not paying their taxes.

You do that, and just as Arizona is finding out, you can stop illegal immigration. It’s time we finally did it.”

CATEGORIES: Immigration | Mitt Romney |