7 News Features: Pres: Immigration

WSVN -- One key immigration reform issue is the Dream Act. It puts young people brought here illegally by their parents on a path to citizenship.

Children like Daniela Pelaez brought to Miami from Colombia at age of four. She graduated this year at the top of her class.

Daniela Palaez: "We're Americans, we belong here and we're going to contribute to the economy as much as the next person."

But congress never passed the Dream Act. President Obama side-stepped congress and signed a measure allowing some to temporarily stay.

President Barack Obama: "Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation to these young people."

Mitt Romney called that a bad move.

Mitt Romney: "We're going to encourage a wave of illegal immigration again by giving amnesty of some kind to people have come here illegally."

Romney says he would veto the Dream Act and only allow illegals to stay, if they serve in the military or earn advanced college degrees.

Both candidates support building a fence along the nearly 2,000 mile long U.S. Mexican border. And both agree the U.S. needs to stem the tide of illegal immigrants coming into the country by cracking down on hiring of illegal immigrants.

President Barack Obama: "Fix the system as a whole so that fewer people have the incentive to enter illegally in search of work in the first place."

Mitt Romney: "The answer is self deportation, where people decide that they can do better by going home because they can't work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here."

As for U.S. policy on Cuba, Romney believes the President has made things worse.

Mitt Romney: "Saying we're going to relax relations, we're going to open up travel to Cuba. This is the wrong time for that. We want to stand with the people of Cuba who want freedom."

But the President says his moves are an effort to bring freedom to Cuba.

President Barack Obama: "We will continue to seek ways to increase the independence of the Cuban people. Whom I believe are entitled to the same freedom and liberty as everyone else in this hemisphere."

And finally, the candidates disagree on the issue of whether the U.S. should officially declare English as the official language. Romney says English is the language of the Nation and people need to learn it to succeed.

Obama says by making it official, many members of society would not be able to read or understand key government documents.

Craig Stevens: "There are 11,000 illegal immigrants in the U.S. right now. If you would like to read each candidates positions on immigration, you can find the links on our website.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Obama on Immigration:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/fixing-immigration-system-america-s-21st-century-economy

Romney on Immigration:
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/immigration

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