The Republican presidential nomination candidates have been talking tough on the issue of illegal immigration, with President Obama copping most of the criticism for allegedly messing up the United States’ immigration system. Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, even went so far as to call illegal immigration “an invasion”.
The controversial Donald Trump claimed credit for the discussion at Thursday’s Prime Time Republican primary debate, saying that no one was talking to Americans about the issue until he did so during his announcement that he would be running. Trump, who has been criticized for his remarks about illegal Mexican immigrants being criminals and rapists, says that a wall needs to be built at the US border, even if it has “a big beautiful door” that allow access to legal immigrants.
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who has been languishing in the polls, also believes that the United States needs to have greater control over the border. He says that it is the country’s responsibility to decide who can and cannot enter, as opposed to automatically granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants already illegally living here. “We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security,” he says. “We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country.”
Bush also slammed the president for using immigration as a “wedge issue” over the course of the last six years and says he would fix the system if elected.