The Hill (DC) reports that top Democrats are attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his ever-evolving position on President Obama's deferred action for young immigrants program. Romney recently said he would not terminate the program for current enrollees because they would have already "purchased" the benefits when they paid the $465 application fee. Yet, Romney would eliminate the program for future applicants. And it is not clear whether he would extend the status beyond two years for those qualifying initially.

"First, he reluctantly said he would support young immigrants who benefit from Barack Obama's deferred action policy only because he didn't want to take away something they 'purchased'-as if the ability to live in the only country you've ever known is no more important than buying a sweater at the mall," Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said. "Now he tells us it's just a one-day sale, by flip-flopping on his flip-flop the next day, saying that if he becomes president he will stop accepting applications."

The Obama campaign has lashed out as well, stating that Romney's latest statement is yet another reminder to Hispanics that "Mitt Romney is the most extreme presidential nominee on immigration in modern history and is against any sensible solution to fix our broken immigration system."

According to The Washington Times, the Migration Policy Institute has estimated that more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants could qualify for deferred action and more than 80,000 undocumented immigrants have already applied for deferred action under President Obama's policy.

The immigration issue has been prominent on the campaign trail this year, with both sides trying to appeal to Hispanic voters as they could be vital to the election, especially in swing states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada and Virginia.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/260405-obama-dems-hammer-romney-on-deportation-waivers

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/2/romney-wont-deport-illegal-immigrants-temporary-le/?page=all

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-camp-romney-still-opposes-dream-act

http://washingtonexaminer.com/romney-would-end-obama-immigration-policy/article/2510082

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CNN reports that the latest national survey of likely Latino voters shows President Obama retaining a big lead over Republican rival Mitt Romney, matching the level of support he received from Latinos in 2008. Obama has the backing of 70% of likely Latino voters, according to the CNN/ORC International survey, which is slightly higher than the 7% of Latinos who voted for him in 2008. Romney only won the support of 26% of Latino voters questioned. Obama's approval rating has improved markedly among Latinos since 2010, according to the poll. He was at 57% approval two years ago and at 68% in Tuesday's poll. Twenty-eight percent of Latinos disapproved of the job Obama is doing as president, compared to 41% who disapproved in 2010. Large majorities of Latinos named Obama as the candidate who would better handle the issues they rate as important-68% said the president would better handle the economy generally, and 69% said Obama would better handle unemployment. On immigration policy, Obama's lead was even greater: 74% said the president would better handle the hot button issue, compared to 20% who named Romney. The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International with telephone interviews of 601 adult Latinos in English and Spanish, between September 25 and October 1.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/04/cnn-poll-latinos-show-big-support-for-obama-policy/

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