I care for 100 percent, Romney tells Hispanics

MIAMI - Agence France-Presse

Sounding a note of inclusion and unity that belied tension coursing through the campaign, White House hopeful Mitt Romney told Hispanic voters on Sept. 19 he would be president for “100 percent” of Americans.

The Republican nominee, who trails President Barack Obama two to one among Latinos in the United States, also pledged that, if elected, he would create a permanent solution to immigration but would not “round up” undocumented workers for mass deportation.

“I care about the 100 percent,” he told viewers of Spanish-language television network Univision. Romney has struggled to stay on message after video secretly filmed at a Florida fundraiser was published this week showing the Republican candidate disparaging 47 percent of Americans as government-dependent “victims” who backed the Democratic president.

Romney made the economic argument that his policies in support of small businesses, education, training and trade would serve Hispanic Americans better than Obama.

Romney also discussed the country’s “broken” immigration system, and he said it was his goal to establish federal rules that would tighten laws on illegal immigration. “We’re not going to round up people around the country and deport them.” Hispanics comprise the largest minority in the country.