Mitt Romney Quotes

We feel a pathway to citizenship would reward illegal activity, ... Amnesty encourages further illegal immigration.

Any proposal that allows people who are here illegally to cut to the front of the line is amnesty.

I do not favor or support, nor will I vote for, a pathway to citizenship for people that are here who've broken the law. I would support - after we have developed a secure border - a mechanism for allowing those folks to work here in America... Everything that we should do should be based on good, sound policy and what's right for America.

What I think you are going to see is with DACA being gone, it gets rid of the magnet of drawing people over here, thinking they are going to come in and get amnesty.

I think there's no problem getting through the House a pathway to legal status. A pathway to citizenship is going to be tougher, but I think it is potentially doable, if we can show the American people that the border is secure.

I just always believe that we should not reward people with citizenship whose first act in this country was a violation of the law. And I continue to hold that view. But let me say, I think there is plenty of room here for compassion. And there's plenty of room here for crafting a solution that will deal with this issue in the long term.

Illegal aliens have broken our laws, and they shouldn't be rewarded with amnesty and immediate legalization.

Our immigration system is not broken. We don't need, and Congress shouldn't enact, amnesty.

Amnesty is not the answer as it will only encourage more illegal immigrants to enter.

Immigration reform is a must, an amnesty. So that's my position. I've been pushing that one since before it was popular.

If you say the word amnesty - the 'A-word,' so to speak - it's DOA. If there's even a hint of amnesty in my district, it's dead on arrival.

I will not support amnesty for anybody, I mean, that would be rewarding bad behavior.

The key here is to be fair to the 11 million [illegal immigrants], starting with the [2 million younger illegals] ‘Dreamers'....I’ve stopped letting 30 percent of the people who are mad about immigration determine how I behave. To those who feel like you should deport [younger illegals], boy, I couldn’t disagree with you more…. To the people who object to this, I don’t want you to vote for me because I cannot serve you well.

Americans are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal immigrants entering this country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by our citizens or legal immigrants, and the public services they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal aliens who try to take American jobs, and by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens.

I do not support amnesty. I do not support driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Since the '86 amnesty, the number of illegal immigrants has quadrupled. That should teach Congress a very important lesson: Amnesty 'bends' the rule of law. And bending the rule of law to reach a 'comprehensive' deal winds up provoking wholesale breaking of the law.

I am for deporting all recent unattached illegals. I am for a local citizen panel to consider certification of those who have been here 25 years and have family and community and have been law-abiding and tax-paying.

I'm not in favor of any amnesty whatsoever.

What we do know, despite the lack of media curiosity, is that Hillary Clinton promises a radical amnesty combined with a radical reduction in immigration enforcement.

I would vote against anything that grants amnesty because I think it destroys your ability to enforce the existing law

We know that a ready amnesty tends to be an invitation to more illegal entries.

Hillary Clinton is only talking about families who come here in violation of the law. We will treat everyone living or residing in our country with great dignity. So important.

We will have a mechanism for dealing with people in this country that - you heard the word humanely again. It is going to be fair. It is going to be tough. But there will be no path to legalization, no path to citizenship unless people leave the country.

This is a guy [Donald Trump] who has been very consistent on no amnesty, no legalization, for folks who have been coming to the country illegally.

I think we should be pushing for amnesty and a path to citizenship for every undocumented person residing in the United States who has not committed a violent crime, with a special emphasis on keeping families together.