Mitt Bashes Newt for Agreeing With Him on Immigration

By Beth Reinhard // November 28, 2011 | 9:07 a.m.

Bloomberg has a story today that quotes a 2006 interview with Mitt Romney, in which he took a dim view of the prospect of deporting illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. Romney's comments are at odds with the position he took last week when he assailed Republican rival Newt Gingrich's call for a "humane'' immigration policy that doesn't target longtime undocumented residents. Romney accused Gingrich of opening "a new doorway to amnesty.''

The Bloomberg interview isn't the only evidence of Romney's change of heart. He told

the Lowell Sun in 2006: "I don't believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country. With these 11 million people, let's have them registered, know who they are. Those who've been arrested or convicted of crimes shouldn't be here; those that are here paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship, as they would from their home country."

Whether Romney -- and Gingrich and many of their presidential rivals -- have taken different sides of the immigration debate isn't in dispute. The broader problem is that aside from Gingrich, none of the Republican contenders -- no one in either party's leadership for that matter -- is putting forth a realistic plan to deal with the millions of undocumented workers who are already here.