Jeb Bush has defied the increasingly harsh rhetoric used by his fellow would-be presidential candidates in the Republican Party by making a passionate speech in the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Houston, during which he openly supported the need to offer undocumented immigrants a pathway to US citizenship.
“Earned legal status is the dignified way, the practical way, the American way of solving the problem of 12 million immigrants,” Bush told an audience of business leaders. “If you embrace a set of shared values, it shouldn’t matter if you have a ‘Z’ at the end of your name or your accent might be different.” Bush notes that there are many people in the Republican Party who do not agree with this opinion but says that America needs to reflect once again what he believes it to be – the world’s most extraordinary country.
Bush has supported immigration reform for many years, although his voice has been muted in recent times as more hard-line candidates hog the limelight. He now appears to be stepping forth as the alternative to the likes of Donald Trump and Ben Carson, accusing them of using people’s fear to win their support.
Bush declared that he believes in the need for immigration reform and offering a pathway to citizenship for Dream Act youngsters and says that he will continue to offer this perspective regardless of the political consequences. He added that while border security is necessary, building walls and deporting millions of people is not a practical or conservative plan.
