奧巴馬宣佈暫停驅逐非法移民子女

Mitt Romney avoided taking a firm position yesterday on President Barack Obama's order to halt the deportation of children of illegal immigrants, highlighting his campaign's dilemma – to widen its appeal to Hispanic voters while not alienating the Republican party's conservative base, which backs harsh immigration laws.

米特•羅姆尼(Mitt Romney)昨日避免對巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)暫停驅逐非法移民子女的法令持強硬立場，突顯出其競選團隊的兩難處境——既要擴大對拉丁裔美國人的吸引力，又不致疏遠共和黨的保守派根基，後者支持實施嚴厲的移民法律。

On CBS's Face the Nation , Mr Romney attacked Mr Obama for "doing nothing on immigration" since taking office and then resorting to a politically motivated stopgap measure rather than pursuing a permanent fix.

在哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS)新聞節目"面對國家"(Face the Nation)中，羅姆尼指責奧巴馬自上臺以來在"移民問題上毫無作爲"，然後付諸政治動機的權宜之計，而非尋求永久的解決辦法。

But Mr Romney declined to say whether he would seek to overturn the measure allowing children of illegal immigrants to remain in the country and work legally on a temporary basis.

但羅姆尼拒絕表明他是否會設法推翻這一法令。該法令允許非法移民子女暫時留在美國併合法工作。

Mr Obama's move was an attempt by the White House to reinforce its advantage with Hispanics, a potentially pivotal voting bloc in the November presidential election.

奧巴馬此舉是白宮強化民主黨在拉丁裔美國人羣體中的優勢的努力。拉丁裔美國人可能是今年11月美國總統大選中極爲關鍵的選民羣體。

By putting Mr Romney on the defensive on the issue, Mr Obama's re-election team is trying to regain momentum after a rough few weeks during which the presumptive Republican candidate has gained traction in many polls, capitalising mainly on the fresh slowdown in the US economic recovery.

奧巴馬的競選連任團隊迫使羅姆尼在這一問題上採取守勢，以便從此前數週的頹勢中重振旗鼓。共和黨總統候選人羅姆尼最近幾周在許多民調中人氣上升，主要得益於美國經濟復甦再次放緩。

Mr Obama is ahead by just 0.7 percentage points over Mr Romney, a statistical tie, in the latest poll average by .

公佈的最新民調綜合結果顯示，奧巴馬僅領先羅姆尼0.7個百分點，這在統計學上屬於不分勝負。

Mr Romney was among the toughest Republican primary candidates on immigration – opposing the Dream Act, which offered a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, and endorsing the concept of "self-deportation", in which illegal immigrants would voluntarily leave the US because the law made conditions so difficult for them.

在初選期間，羅姆尼是在移民問題上持最強硬立場的共和黨候選人之一。他反對爲非法移民子女取得美國國籍提供途徑的《夢想法》(Dream Act)，並支持"自我驅逐"的概念。"自我驅逐"是指非法移民不堪法律的苛刻對待，自願離開美國。

But he has been under pressure to reverse course, since Hispanic voters will play a big role in swing states including Nevada, Colorado and Florida.

但羅姆尼一直承受着改變立場的壓力，因爲拉丁裔美國人將在內華達州、科羅拉多州和佛羅里達州這些選舉搖擺州扮演關鍵角色。

While some conservative Republicans attacked Mr Obama's order for circumventing the Congress and selectively applying the law, Mr Romney refrained from challenging the president's authority to do so, irking some within his party.

儘管某些共和黨保守派人士指責奧巴馬的命令繞過國會並選擇性地適用法律，但羅姆尼並未質疑奧巴馬是否有權力這樣做，令共和黨內某些人感到不滿。