The governor claimed no knowledge of the immigration status of the landscaping firm's employees. Nevertheless, he continued to use the company, and in late 2007, as he was railing about the evils of illegal immigration on the campaign trail, Globe reporters once more caught gardeners without papers working at Romney's home.
Romney finally fired the company, but the scandal has reared its head during both of his presidential runs, with his foils blasting him for hypocrisy and for owning, in the words of one, a "sanctuary mansion."
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, committed nativist and Romney immigration adviser.
Phoenix attorney and prominent LDS member Daryl Williams, a critic of Russell Pearce, SB 1070, and Romney' "self-deportation" plan.
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The tale of Romney's Guatemalan hired hands is not the only evidence of his being two-faced when it comes to immigration.
Romney once described as "reasonable" proposed legislation, supported by President George W. Bush, that would have provided a route to legalization for the undocumented.
During his 2007-08 primary bid, he changed course, viciously attacking U.S. Senator John McCain, a sponsor of the bill and the GOP's eventual nominee, for ramming "amnesty" down Americans' throats.
During that campaign cycle, he also scored the endorsement of Hispanic-hunter Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who became an honorary campaign chair and stumped for Romney in Iowa in 2007.
This time around, the Maricopa County sheriff endorsed Perry, and McCain, who has done a 180 on immigration since the failed McCain-Kennedy immigration bill, endorsed Romney.
But when it comes to immigration, Romney's most telling support comes from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, co-author of SB 1070 and of an even harsher law in Alabama, giving local cops the powers of immigration agents, among other anti-immigrant provisions.
Kobach, who works as an unpaid policy adviser to the Romney camp, is closely associated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the most powerful nativist organization in the country and one that's been labeled a hate group by civil rights watchdogs.
Despite becoming Kansas' secretary of state in 2010, Kobach still is listed as a counsel for FAIR's legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
Both FAIR and Kobach are known for pimping "attrition through enforcement," the idea that if states make life miserable for illegal immigrants, denying them such things as the ability to find work or rent an apartment, they will pack up and head back to their home countries.
SB 1070, which was pushed through the Legislature by notorious Hispanic-basher and recalled State Senate President Russell Pearce, made "attrition through enforcement" public policy for all state and local governments in Arizona.
Romney has embraced the policy, using the catchphrase "self-deportation" to sum it up on the primary trail. His most infamous explanation of the notion came as the answer to a reporter's question during a Florida presidential forum.
"The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here," he stated to titters in the audience.
The laughter was to be expected. The phrase was the product of a 1994 hoax by Chicano cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz and satirist Esteban Zul, in response to California's Prop 187, the ill-fated measure to bar illegal immigrants from social services, backed by then-California Governor Pete Wilson.
Wilson, who is loathed by Latino activists, is a Romney supporter and serves as an honorary chair of his California campaign.
Kobach reportedly also endorsed and advised Romney during his 2008 primary bid, but that was before 1070 became law, spawning copycat legislation in other states. Romney's embrace of Kobach and his ideas has enraged Latinos, even Republican Latinos.
Two Hispanic GOP groups, Somos Republicans and Cafe Con Leche Republicans, have stridently criticized Romney on the issue. Both have endorsed former House Speaker Gingrich, who has derided self-deportation as an "Obama-level fantasy."
Gingrich has suggested that Latino families with deep roots in America be allowed to stay in the country. In that, Gingrich, a Catholic, is closer to LDS policy on immigration than Romney.
In 2011, the LDS church issued its strongest edict to date, expressing its concern that "any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God."
Though "as a matter of policy" it discouraged members from overstaying visas or entering a country illegally, it emphasized that a federal solution was necessary, and it condemned efforts to target Latinos for removal.
"The history of mass expulsion or mistreatment of individuals or families is cause for concern especially where race, culture, or religion are involved," reads the statement. "This should give pause to any policy that contemplates targeting any one group, particularly if that group comes mostly from one heritage. "
It was neither the first time the church weighed in nor the last.
In the wake of SB 1070's becoming Arizona law, the LDS church issued a message of support for the Utah Compact, a declaration of five principles meant to guide the immigration debate in Utah and beyond:
• Finding a federal solution to the problem,
• Acknowledging the contributions of immigrants to the economy,
• Not separating families,
• Treating immigrants humanely
• And, significantly, insisting that "local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of federal code."
