Republican Candidates Trade Barbs Over Immigration

The New York Times has the background, "Gingrich Ad Faulting Romney on Immigration Stirs Furor." (There's an audio clip at the link.)

And Michelle responds, "Gingrich channels open-borders SEIU; Rubio rebukes; Update: Newt retreats."

And now at The Hill, "Gingrich slams Romney immigration reform plan as 'Obama-level fantasy'":

The former House Speaker derided Mitt Romney's idea of "self-deportation" — articulated in Monday's GOP debate — as a "fantasy" while defending his own immigration plan, which would legalize the status of illegal immigrants with significant roots in the community and who had avoided arrest.

"I think you have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatic, you know, $20 million a year income with no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," Gingrich said. "Remember that I talked very specifically about people who have been here a long time, who are grandmothers and grandfathers, who have been paying their bills, they have been working, they are part of the community. Now, for Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this verges — this is an Obama-level fantasy."

He also defended an ad that referred to Romney as "anti-immigrant" even after his campaign pulled the spot, which was denounced by popular Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in an interview with the Miami Herald.

"Well, he certainly shows no concern for the humanity of people who are already here. I mean I just think the idea we're going to deport grandmothers and grandfathers is a sufficient level of inhumanity," Gingrich said.

More at the link.

And also at Los Angeles Times, "Romney and Gingrich battle for Florida's Latino vote."