Romney says he will ‘replace and supersede' Obama's immigration plan

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Mitt Romney will criticize President Obama's immigration plan on Thursday, saying that as president, he will "put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the President's temporary measure," according to excerpts of his speech. That plan is still vague, but it does not involve a path to legalization for any of the country's 11 million illegal immigrants except for young people who enlist in the military, according to a release from the campaign.

In the speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla, Romney also will say that he would make it easier for legal immigrants to bring their spouses and children to America, as well as beef up temporary work visas for low-skilled workers. He also reiterates that he thinks foreign students who get advanced degrees in America should be given green cards. Romney's immigration plan also includes a "high tech fence" for the border and a national, mandatory employment verification system that ensures employers do not hire illegal immigrants.

President Obama's bombshell immigration announcement on Friday has forced Romney to address immigration head-on, instead of just emphasizing the recession's impact on Latinos and reminding Latino audiences that Obama failed to pass immigration reform as he promised. Republicans and Romney surrogates have criticized the president's decision to stay the deportation of young illegal immigrants as political, but before Thursday, Romney had repeatedly refused to say whether he would repeal the policy if elected president. Instead he has criticized the move as being easily reversible and only offering a temporary solution. That's a big departure from Romney's rhetoric during the primary, when he said he would strengthen the enforcement of immigration laws so that millions of the country's illegal immigrants would "self deport."