Obama tells Latino leaders he will fight for immigration reform

President Barack Obama speaks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference on Friday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — President Barack Obama on Friday tailored his economic message to the Hispanic voters who could help swing the election, saying he would build up-middle-class opportunity for Latinos while Republican rival Mitt Romney would gut it with "top-down economics" favoring only the rich.

"These are all our kids," Obama declared as the nation's first black president lobbied for support in strikingly personal terms.

When he meets young people of different backgrounds, Obama said, "I see myself."

"Who knows what they might achieve if we just give them a chance?" the president asked. "That's what I'm fighting for. That's what I stand for."

Obama spoke to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials near Orlando, his first speech to a Hispanic group since he decreed that many young illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children would be exempted from deportation and granted work permits valid for two years

He defended that decision as "the right thing to do" while conceding it was only a temporary patch. Romney attacked it as a "stopgap measure" in his own speech to the association one day earlier as both men, locked in a tight battle, courted voters from a Hispanic population growing in size and influence.

Obama challenged Republicans in Congress to join him finally on a big, broad fix of the U.S. immigration laws.

"To those who are saying Congress should be the one to fix this, absolutely," Obama said. "For those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion, absolutely. My door has been open for three and a half years. They know where to find me."

Hispanic voters are a vital constituency in states that could swing the election, from Florida to Nevada to Virginia.

The president said the nation needs ideas and policies that build up the middle class and "our current immigration system doesn't reflect those values." The system punishes immigrants who play by the rules and drives away entrepreneurs who can get an education in America but cannot stay here legally, he said.

Obama has faced heat from his own Hispanic supporters for not having fulfilled a pledge to deliver a comprehensive immigration overhaul deal. Obama has, in turn, pointed blame at Republicans for blocking him.

He said anew on Friday that as long as he is president "he will not give up the fight" on a broad fix.

And he made another pitch for legislation called the DREAM Act that would create a path to citizenship for some children of illegal immigrants.

Obama said Romney has promised to veto such a bill and "we should take him at his word."

Obama's immigration initiative, announced less than five months before the November elections, delighted many in the Latino community and drew renewed attention to the key Hispanic voting bloc and its potential for affecting the presidential election with its turnout and energy.

Obama won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008, and aides believe he could do even better this time.

Romney on Thursday backed off the tough anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric of the Republican primaries and vowed to address illegal immigration "in a civil but resolute manner." He outlined plans to overhaul the green card system for immigrants with families and end immigration caps for their spouses and minor children.

But he was vague about how he would treat immigrant children brought to the country illegally by their parents and refused to say whether he would reverse Obama's policy.

On Friday, the Obama campaign released a 110-second online video with a montage of news clips depicting Romney sidestepping questions on whether he would repeal Obama's policy if elected. "Why won't Mitt Romney give a straight answer?" the video asks.