Mitt Romney declined to say whether, if elected president, he would nix the Obama administration's controversial new order allowing potentially hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children to avoid deportation. 

In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Romney criticized the move by the Department of Homeland Security as political and a short-term fix. 

"I don't know why (Obama) feels stopgap measures are the right way to go," Romney said. 

He said he wants to pursue long-term legislation if elected that would address the status of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States when they were young. 

Still, the Republican presidential candidate would not say whether he would overturn the Obama administration's policy while such a long-term solution is being worked out. 

"We'll look at that setting as we reach it," Romney said, noting that the immigration order would eventually be "overtaken" by long-term legislation.