Immigration
Immigration reform is another hot topic for both presidential candidates. Both the presidential candidates are of the same opinion that the US immigration system needs to be reformed.
Barack Obama’s immigration policies have resulted in deportation of over one million illegal immigrants. However, the President seeks the passage of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would grant a path to citizenship to those who ere brought to America as children, provided they had graduated or were enrolled in university, or served in the armed forces. The US President backs a path to legalisation for the estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants already in the country, who pose no criminal or security threat.
Romney, who strongly favours a fence along the US-Mexico border, has already said that the United States needs to turn off "the magnets of amnesty, in-state tuition for illegal aliens, (and) employers that knowingly hire people that have come here illegally." He, however, calls him "pro-immigrant", adding that people should enter the US legally. But in the second presidential debate, the Republican backed permitting some undocumented youth to stay in the US. "The kids of those that came here illegally, those kids I think should have a pathway to become a permanent resident of the United States. And military service, for instance, is one way they would have that kind of pathway to become a permanent resident," he said.