Romney Weathers 'Illegal Worker' Allegations

Feb. 13, 2007 — -- Illegal immigration foes are joining the presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., despite a Boston Globe report that a landscaping firm he used allegedly employed illegal workers.

"A person of good will can make an inadvertent mistake," Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., told ABC News. "I certainly would not hold that against him."

The Boston Globe reported from Guatemala on Dec. 1 that for a decade, Romney allegedly used a landscaping company, Community Lawn Service Company with a Heart, that "relies heavily on illegal workers" to maintain the lawn at his pink colonial home in Belmont, Mass. Romney responded to the story by telling the Globe through a spokesman that he knows nothing about the immigrations status of the workers employed by the landscaping firm, adding that his dealings were with the firm's head, Ricardo Saenz, a legal immigrant from Colombia.

The Democratic National Committee seized on the Globe report last year to paint Romney as a hypocrite. "Even as Romney travels the country, vowing to curb the flood of low-skilled illegal immigrants into the United States," read the DNC's missive to reporters, "some of those workers maintain his own yard, cutting grass, pruning shrubs, and mulching trees."

But two-and-on-half months after the story appeared, it does not appear to have slowed Romney from making inroads in the House GOP Conference where anti-immigration passions run high. At present, Romney counts 23 House Republicans in his camp -- eight more House Republicans than Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and 18 more than former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Through a successful meeting, Romney has also won the silence of Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., the anti-illegal immigrant firebrand who is pursuing a long-shot presidential campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor supports increasing the number of high-skilled immigrants admitted into the United States. But the core of his appeal to conservatives is his vow to secure U.S. borders.