Fox News on Friday replayed comments by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that President Obama “did nothing to advance” immigration reform until this year without noting that those comments are false. Indeed, Obama and the Democrats tried and failed to pass the DREAM Act in 2010, because Senate Republicans filibustered it after the legislation had already passed the House.
Instead, Fox's America's Newsroom amplified Romney's erroneous attack:
JAMIE COLBY (anchor): Mitt Romney taking a shot at President Obama's immigration policy while speaking at a convention of Latino leaders, saying that the president's exec order -- purely political.
ROMNEY [video clip]: This president had huge majorities in the House and Senate. He was free to pursue any policy he pleased, but he did nothing to advance a permanent fix for our broken immigration system. Nothing. Instead, he failed to act until facing a tough reelection and trying to secure your vote.
On June 15, Obama announced that the Department of Homeland Security would allow certain young undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, provided they meet a list of criteria. In his speech at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference, Romney blasted the president for the immigration shift and his supposed failure to “advance a permanent fix for our broken immigration system.”
Reporter Molly Henneberg, who called announcement “very well timed,” then said:
HENNEBERG: The president wants Congress to pass the DREAM Act, Republicans oppose it because it gives a path to citizenship for some children who were brought here illegally.
Henneberg did not mention that the DREAM Act was introduced in 2010 and voted on in Congress -- it passed the House, but garnered only 55 votes in the Senate, instead of the required 60 to break a Republican filibuster that prevented it from being brought up for a final vote.
After the Obama administration's policy shift was announced, Fox News began covering up Republican obstruction of the DREAM Act.
When Romney made a similar claim about Obama's immigration reform efforts on CBS' Face The Nation,
FactCheck.org called the claim “exaggerate[d]” and wrote:
Obama supported and lobbied for the DREAM Act, which would have created a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The bill passed the House in December 2010, but failed in the Senate largely because of Republican opposition.
FactCheck.org concluded: “Romney simply goes too far when he says Obama 'did nothing,' and he glosses over the role of his own party in blocking the legislation the president proposed.”