she answers critics who say the announcement wreaks of politics. plus, details of a very rare breach of white house protocol during the president's announcement. we now know who the reporter is who interrupted and visibly irked the president of the united states. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." less than five months before election day a dramatic and controversial change in immigration policy by the obama administration. it announced today it will stop deporting young illegal immigrants who were brought to the united states as children if they meet certain requirements. among the requirements, the person cannot be more than 30 years old and must have entered the united states before age 16 and lived in the country for at least five years. they must also be in school or have graduated or be a u.s. military or coast guard veteran. and they cannot have any felonies on their record and cannot be deemed to pose a threat to the united states. it's a move that's expected to impact hundreds of thousands of people. but it's also steep in election year politics. some republicans are calling it flat out amnesty for illegal immigrants. our white house correspondent, brianna keilar is beginning our coverage this hour. aimed at a very important voting block to be sure. >> that's right, wolf. the timing here no coincidence. this is aimed at hispanic voters. a block president obama needs some help from. 67% of hispanic voters who cast their ballots in 2008 did so for president obama. just 31% for john mccain. and as a candidate, president obama said he would tackle immigration reform. well, it's a promise he did not make good on. and with an eye to november, a number of his hispanic supporters have been pressuring him to do more. president obama made an unexpected trip to the rose garden to highlight his administration's announcement that it would buy time for young illegal immigrants facing the possibility of deportation. >> these are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods. they're friends with our kids. they pledge allegiance to our flag. they are americans in their heart, in their minds in every single way but one, on paper. >> as the president was halfway through his remarks, a reporter with "the daily caller" interrupted him, asking the president what the change means for american workers. >> excuse me, sir. it's not time for questions, sir. not while i'm speaking. >> president obama continued his remarks but came back to the man. >> and the answer to y question, sir, and the next time i prefer you let me finish my statements before y that question, is this is the right thing to do for the american people. i didn't ask for an argument. i'm answering your question. >> now, wolf, as you can imagine that garnered a whole lot of attention. neil monroe through "the daily caller" put out a statement saying that it was basically an accident. he was trying to time his remarks for when the president was wrapping up. i did ask monroe right after the remarks why he did it. what he said to me is because he need today ask questions that you all, meaning the white house press corp, wouldn't ask. i was two people over from him and from what i could tell no one thought the president was wrapping up. i think it was deliberate it's fair to say. >> did he apologize for so rudely interrupting the president of the united states in the rose garden? >> no. he didn't. he said in his statement it was an accident. and his employers, the founders of "the daily caller" are standing by him and his question. >> did tucker carlson and "the daily caller" apologize? >> no. >> all right. more on this story coming up. standby thanks very much. the new immigration policy mimics some provisions of the democrats dream act which failed to win enough republican support to pass congress. so what are lawmakers saying about this brand new obama administration policy? cnn's athee na jones joining us now. what are you hearing where you are? >> wolf, reaction from members of congress has been swift today as you can imagine. democrats are celebrating this announcement. but republicans are blasting the move by the obama administration and questioning the president's authority to make it. >> mr. senator -- >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell refused to answer questions about the obama administration's new immigration policy. but the reaction from other congressional republicans was strong. texas congressman lamar smith, chairman of the house judiciary committee, calls the move an amnesty that would encourage fraud and illegal activity. >> i think the american people are getting tired of this president picking and choosing what laws to enforce. that's not the democratic way. maybe you can do that in a dictatorship, or maybe another country. but this is a president who swore to uphold the amendments of the constitution of the united states. >> some tweeting president obama avoids the hard work of fixing an immigration system which is broken and fractured on numerous fronts. republicans say the president is bypassing congress, which has failed to pass dream act legislation that would give undocumented immigrants brought to america illegally by their parents a path of citizenship if they meet certain criteria. florida senator marco rubio, who has been working saying this move is a short-term answer to a long-term problem. meanwhile, democrats like dream act co-sponsor, senator dick durbin, are applauding the administration's move. rtanpost fo. that this is a >> now, wolf, we know that republicans are questioning whether president obama has the legal authority to do this. so what can that do? well, congressman smith told us that congress could try to cut off money for this program to be implemented or reduce a resolution disagreeing with the president or even file a lawsuit and try to take the president to court for not upholding the law. but he also acknowledged to us he thinks this will ultimately all play out in the court of public opinion. >> he's probably right on that. it will play out in the court of public opinion over the next four and a half months. athena, thanks very much. >> thanks. we're finally getting some reaction from mitt romney, the republican presidential candidate. jim acosta's in new hampshire with him. i take it that the republican candidate has just responded to this administration's shift in policy? >> that's right, wolf. mitt romney just walked off of his campaign bus for a few moments to address this change of policy over at the white house. he didn't take any questions from reporters, but he basically came out and said he agreed with marco rubio's statement on this issue, which is that marco rubio understands this is going to cause relief to a lot of those illegal immigrants caught up in the situation of being young in this country perhaps through no fault of their own. but marco rubio also said in that statement that he put out earlier today that he thinks that the president is ignoring the constitution and making it more difficult to pass comprehensive immigration reform and to crackdown on illegal immigration. here's what mitt romney had to say just a few moments ago. >> i believe the status of young people who come here through no fault of their own is an important matter to be considered and should be solved on a long-term basis so they know what their future would be in this country. i think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution because an executive order of course is just a short-term matter. it could be reversed by subsequent presidents. i would like to see legislation that deals with this issue. and i happen to agree with marco rubio as he will consider this issue. he said this is an important matter. we have to find a long-term solution. but the president's action makes reaching a long-term solution more difficult. if i'm president, we'll do our very best to have that kind of long-term solution that provides certainty and clarity for the people who come into this country through no fault of their own by virtue of an act of their parents. thank you. >> now, wolf, i will tell you that reporters who were gathered there for romney's statement, including myself, we all tried to ask mitt romney would you reverse the policy that the president announced today, and he did not answer that question. he climbed back on his bus and was off to pennsylvania. and i have to tell you, wolf, all of this comes -- this announcement from the white house comes as mitt romney was launching a carefully crafted pretty well-financed, the stage crafting was impressive, six-state bus tour going through a number of battleground states between now and the early part of next week. and this caught the romney campaign by surprise. the former governor of massachusetts came out and really was taking some hard swings at the president on the economy on the speech that he gave yesterday. but really a lot of that's getting drowned out by what the white house did today. i talked to a romney advisor who thinks all of this is political and a pivot on the part of the president to get away from some of those bad economic numbers that have been coming out and some of the statements the president's made on this issue in the last several weeks. wolf. >> it's interesting. he cited marco rubio, the republican senator from florida. his statement very much -- i'm looking at the statement marco rubio put out. very similar with one potential significant change. marco rubio, as you pointed out said that the president by this decision today was ignoring the constitution. i didn't hear mitt romney say anything about the constitution. did you? >> he didn't say anything about ignoring the constitution. so you're right. there is sort of a difference there. but it was largely, i think, supportive of what marco rubio had to say earlier today. and what's very interesting about that is if you look at marco rubio's statement, it is somewhat supportive of what the president did. marco rubio's statement says that he basically understands that this will come as a relief to a lot of undocumented people who are in this country right now. and so romney is echoing that statement. keep in mind, wolf, this is a republican candidate who during the primaries took a very hardline stance on immigration. he said he would veto the dream act. he said undocumented people in this country needed to self-deport and so on. so, you know, needless to say the democrats are already starting to make some comments on all of this. the obama campaign put out a statement just a little while ago saying that they anticipate that mitt romney will be making what they call an etch-a-sketch on this issue. i think we'll be hearing about this over the next several days, wolf. >> jim acosta, thanks very much. our chief political correspondent host of "state of the union." what did you think of that romney reaction? >> i don't think it's all that surprising. i sort of anticipated once i saw rubio's statement. they talk. they've been -- marco rubio, when he first started his version of the dream act, i spoke with him at that point when he's beginning to put together the structure of it. i asked him about mitt romney. i recall him saying i want to talk to him about it. and a lot of people saw rubio's attempt to kind of come up with the dream act of his own for republicans as a way to kind of hand a lifeline to mitt romney when he became the nominee. so, you know, it doesn't surprise me at all. and also i think if you look at the independent vote and you see how favorable they feel at least emotionally about those who are in the plight of an illegal immigrant and especially a child brought over here, this certainly is one of those things where it's not just about the latino vote. it's about the swing vote. they don't like harsh judgments on people. so it's for just both those voting groups. >> yeah, no, romney's statement we just heard the whole thing. much more moderate that some of the earlier statements we heard from other republicans like chuck grassly, for example, when they were accusing the president of amnesty and breaking the constitution. steve king, the republican from iowa saying there's got to be a lawsuit and all this. he was much more tempered. it did take him about five hours to come up with this statement. >> remember, we also heard this week he'd spoken to speaker boehner, no doubt spoken to mitch mcconnell. and they want to have some sort of coordination here at least in the leadership. so i'm sure there are a lot of phone calls that went back and forth particularly. and obviously i think they were taken with marco rubio thing. it's going to be about process, not about the end result. >> yeah. let's not forget that mitt romney now is the leader of the republican party for all practical purposes. candy will have more sunday morning on "state of the union." 9:00 a.m. eastern and noon eastern as well. we have much more on this story. coming up i'm going to talk about the new policy with the woman in charge of actually implementing it, the homeland security secretary, janet napolitano. she'll join us. is her agency ready for the massive amount of work coming up in the days and weeks to come? and the news had latinos in some cities pouring into the streets in celebration. and senator john mccain actually goes after one of mitt romney's biggest financial supporters. that and much more coming up in our strategy session. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. just dpot a got a statement in from rick santorum. let me read the first sentence. he goes after the president on this immigration shift. today president obama blat tantly ignored our constitution, the role of congress in making laws and the separation of powers. he showed us all he believes he is above the constitution and the law on health care, marriage, religious freedom and now immigration. very angry statement. much tougher than mitt romney's statement. that's just part of it. it goes on and on. latinos certainly are the single largest group impacted by the new obama administration policy blocking deportation of some young illegal immigrants who were brought to the united states as children. lisa sylvester's here. she's getting reaction from the latino community. lisa, what so far based on what you've seen has been the reaction? >> well, wolf, first off as you have mentioned there is a lot of anger and outrage among conservatives across the country with the president's announcement. but for many in the latino community, the response is the exact opposite. they are simply overjoyed. volunteers at the advocacy started making signs, preparations for a rally outside the white house. these signs will read. >> one small step for me, another poster will say one giant leap for my people. >> the news that president obama will stop deporting many young people living in the country illegally has him overjoyed. he arrived illegally in the u.s. from el salvador when he was 5. >> you see your friends going onto college and kind of get that envious if only i was born here or something. my first thoughts were joining the military. but the first thing they told me, are you legal, do you have a green card? i was like, no. kind of brought me down. >> the announcement has given a new charge to the latino community. they've been pressing washington lawmakers to pass the dream act that would provide a pathway to citizenship or permanent residency to students living in the country illegally. opponents have called that amnesty. and the dream act has stalled in congress. for ricky compost, the president's announcement moves them closer to their goal. >> i didn't know it was going to be a day after my birthday. and it will be a birthday present for me. i'm so excited. >> they head to the white house chanting "yes, we can." with a clear message for the white house. that message of gratitude. now ricky wants to be a doctor. sal says he would like to have a career in law enforcement. they both say this announcement means they'll work, earn money for college and hopefully be able to reach their goals in the future, wolf. >> a lot of happy young people out there across the united states. we're going to have much more on the reaction from the latino community. that's coming up.mh, lisa. republicans accuse ptd obama of sidestepping congress and overstepping his own powers. i'll talk to the woman who's going to put the president's brand new policy on hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into effect. and a milestone for the pentagon. we're going to tell you how it plans to honor its gay and lesbian troops. and from a hit super bowl commercial to a real-life medical drama, the little boy who cap vated the country as a minidarth vader has major surgery. ♪ oh! 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