Mitt Romney: Anchor Baby?

I like irony. Tom Tancredo’s endorsement of Mitt Romney took many by surprise. But the surprise became astonishment when it was revealed that Mitt Romney’s father came to America across the Mexican border. For some reason The Tanc didn’t seem to mind. Hypocritical? You be the judge.

Tom Tancredo, the only candidate for president from either party to declare himself in opposition to legal immigration, and to have a specific aversion to Mexican immigration, dropped out of the presidential race last week. Then he did something quite odd – he endorsed Mitt Romney, the only candidate whose father was born in Mexico and whose family made use of the porous border to immigrate between Mexico and the United States.

Ouch. Most people probably don’t even know about this. And why was the Romney family kicking it in Mexico? Polygamy. Nice.

Mitt Romney’s father George was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1907, the son of Gaskell Romney and Anna Amelia Pratt. Three generations of Romneys lived in Mexico because Miles Park Romney, a polygamist, moved the family there in 1884 as it became increasingly clear that the U.S. government would not tolerate polygamy in the Utah Territory. The 1882 Edmunds Act stripped polygamists of the basic rights of U.S. citizenship, denying them the right to vote, serve on juries or hold office. Not dissimilar to current immigration raids, U.S. federal agents hunted and arrested polygamists. Polygamists were forced to leave the country or risk jail.

Lawbreakers. It turns out that polygamy was not legal in Mexico either, so “Miles Romney then knowingly arrived in direct violation of Mexican immigration law.”

Aren’t these the kind of people Tancredo dislikes with intensity?

Relative Junius Romney negotiated with rebel leaders to get women and children out of the colony for their safety. Anna, with Mitt’s father George in tow, fled across the U.S. border by train (with no apparent delay or search at the border). A short time later Gaskell, like many Mexican immigrants before and since, covered hundreds of miles under a hot sun, crossing by land into New Mexico.

Hypocrisy knows no bounds. The more one finds out about Mitt Romney, the less there is to like.

Update: I should have noted that the source, Think Progress, is a left slanted smear site, and although it may be accurate on occasion, it’s best to be cautious taking articles there at their word.  A grain of salt is always good to include in the mix.  That’s precisely why I said “You be the judge.”  Commenter TLB pointed out this comment over at an alternet reprint of the original article:

Per this: It is the consensus of scholars, however, that foreign born children of Americans are natural born citizens. And that would mean that [George Romney] and McCain would certainly qualify.

Thus, calling George Romney an “immigrant” is false. And, for that reason and others, most of the post has nothing to do with Mitt Romney. He’s the one who’s running for president, not his late father.

B4B always strives for accuracy, and will continue to do so.  Constructive criticism is always welcome.

— Psycheout