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Gingrich Slams Romney’s ‘Inhumane’ ‘Self-Deportation’ Policy For Undocumented Immigrants

During Monday’s GOP debate in Florida, Mitt Romney advocated for a policy of “self-deportation” for undocumented immigrants — a policy borrowed from the anti-immigrant hate group NumbersUSA. As one of his advisers admitted several months ago, Romney’s hard-line approach to the undocumented population consists of making immigrants’ lives so unbearable that they voluntarily choose to leave the country.

Today fellow GOP contender Newt Gingrich condemned Romney’s idea as “inhumane” during an interview with Univision:

Republican Newt Gingrich says Mitt Romney’s call for self-deportation of illegal immigrants is an “Obama-level” fantasy that is inhumane to long-established families living in America.

The former House speaker ridiculed that part of Romney’s immigration policy during a forum Wednesday with the Spanish-language network Univision. Gingrich laughed at the idea and said it wouldn’t work.

Romney said during a recent debate that he favors what he calls “self-deportation” over policies that require the federal government to round up illegal immigrants and send them back to their home countries.

Gingrich has embraced a more moderate approach to immigration than Romney and was recently endorsed by Somos Republicans, the nation’s largest Hispanic Republican group.

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Romney, facing criticism for not being conservative enough, has tried to outflank many of his opponents on the right when it comes to immigration. Yet surprisingly, his harsh stance has been largely overlooked by many voters.

The Obama campaign recently dubbed Romney the most extreme GOP candidate on immigration — a claim borne out by a comparison of the candidates’ positions.