Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who is running for the Republican Party presidential candidate nomination, says he would find a way to allow the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living the United States to legally stay in the country.
Bush has vowed to enact comprehensive immigration reform if elected to the position of president of the United States, Raw Story says, but admits that this can only be achieved if there is a strong commitment to protecting the US border. The current president, Barack Obama, made many of the same promises when he was first elected; however, he was unable to reach a compromise with Congress.
Bush’s attitude to immigration reform is different to that of many of his peers in the Republican Party, as was evidenced by the interview conducted by Telemundo. Bush spoke in Spanish to demonstrate his support for Latinos, who are the country’s fastest-growing minority demographic. His stance is obviously a personal one, since his wife comes from Mexico. “We speak Spanish at home,” Bush says. “We eat Mexican food at home. Our kids are Hispanic in a lot of ways. So the Hispanic influence in my family is very important in my life.”Although Bush’s attitude to immigration may win him favor with Latinos, he has strong competition from other candidates in the Republican Party who have support from advocates of religious freedom and those who support more traditional values.