Mitt Romney’s plan to “replace” President Obama’s new immigration policy would only allow immigrants to avoid deportation if they served in the military, according to Talking Points Memo.

Romney outlined what he called a “civil but resolute” approach to undocumented immigration in a speech before the National Association of Latino Elected Officials in Orlando, where he also vowed to give spouses and young children priority in the green-card allocation process.

Last week, the Obama administration issued an order preventing the deportation of 800,000 immigrants who had been brought into the country before the age of 16. Under Obama’s plan, immigrants would be eligible if they were under 30 and had lived in the country for five years while earning a high school diploma or GED, or enlisting in the military. It would not be a path to citizenship, as proposed by the DREAM Act, but would grant them a two-year period in which to apply for a work permit.

Romney called the move “a temporary measure that he seems to think will be just enough to get him through the election.”

Video of Romney’s speech, which aired on Now with Alex Wagner on MSNBC on June 21, is below:





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