Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is facing fresh lawn care woes after the Boston Globe reported yesterday that illegal immigrants continued to maintain the yard at Romney's home - a year after the Globe first reported that undocumented immigrants were employed by a contractor to mow, rake and prune.

The Massachusetts Republican fired the contractor after the news broke, saying in a statement that its "failure to comply with the law is disappointing and inexcusable." Rival campaigns seized on the news to attack Romney on illegal immigration, one of the hottest issues in the Republican primary this year and one on which Romney has tried to stake out territory as a staunch supporter of sealing the border and a fierce opponent of amnesty for illegal aliens already in the country.

Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson's campaign used the news to paint Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, as a flip-flopper. "First Mitt Romney was FOR illegal immigrants working on his lawn, and then he was against it, then for it, and now I guess he's against it again," spokesman Todd Harris said in a statement. "Sounds like his position on amnesty."

Sen. John McCain of Arizona has drawn heat from many of his competitors - Romney among them - for his role in backing a failed compromise bill on immigration that included a path to citizenship. Yesterday, McCain sounded a conciliatory note.

"My first comment was, 'Thank God I live in a condominium,' " McCain said in an interview with the Monitor. "What it may say is that we still need immigration reform. People want the border secured, but we also need to address the issue."

At last week's Republican debate, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani responded to Romney's claims that he ran a "sanctuary city" by telling Romney he ran a "sanctuary mansion."

Yesterday, the Giuliani campaign's response was short. "I think it speaks for itself," said Katie Levinson, communications director, in a statement.

This latest news may make it hard for Romney to bring up the immigration issue, observers said.

"I think it basically gives his opponents a ready-made response, in a debate, a 30-second ad, and so forth. The fact that it happened twice makes it more difficult for him," said Dante Scala, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire. "It will be tougher, I think, for him to go on the attack on immigration because there's a tidy counterpunch."

This news adds to what was already a difficult week for Romney. Over the weekend, new polls showed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee had bested Romney to take the lead in Iowa. Today, Romney plans a major address on religion, politics and his Mormon faith, which political observers say may be risky.

"I guess the fortunate thing is it's not the last week before Iowa," Scala said. "You can get whiplash watching the polling."

The Globe first reported last December that Romney's contractor, Community Lawn Service With a Heart, had employed Guatemalans who said they were in the United States illegally and had worked maintaining Romney's yard on a regular basis.

In his statement, Romney said he "gave the company a second chance with very specific conditions. They were instructed to make sure people working for the company were of legal status."

This week, the Globe followed up, reporting that the company continued to work maintaining the lawn at Romney's Belmont, Mass., home. The day after the YouTube debate, where Romney sparred with Giuliani on immigration, Globe reporters observed at least two illegal immigrants rake and clear debris from Romney's tennis court. The Globe followed two of the workers, each of whom said they were illegal immigrants.

The company's owner, Ricardo Saenz, denied that Romney had any particular issue with the legal status of his employees, saying, "Why would they have any problem?"

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