Washington, D.C.- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today reacted to Mitt Romney's appearance at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference, saying his comments "highlight the paralysis and disarray within the Republican party on the question of immigration reform."

"Mitt Romney's comments today highlight the paralysis and disarray within the Republican party on the question of immigration reform," said Menendez. "Latinos are looking for leadership on key issues like the economy and immigration reform and Romney has failed to deliver. He has no proposal on undocumented immigrants and continues to dodge the question of whether he will continue President Obama's policy to suspend the deportation of Dream Act students. On legal immigration, he endorsed a proposal that I've championed to allow the spouses and kids of green card holders to get visas immediately, yet his party has failed to endorse that approach. I've reached out to Republicans to help me fix our legal immigration system but unfortunately to date, Republicans continue to oppose reforms to our family immigration system."

During his remarks, Romney endorsed a legal immigration provision championed by Senator Menendez which would exempt the spouses and children of lawful permanent residents from the numeric caps for visas saying: "As President, I will reallocate Green Cards to those seeking to keep their families under one roof. We will exempt from caps the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents. And we will eliminate other forms of bureaucratic red tape that keep families from being together."

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