Ryan Streeter
Jeb Bush is not only the best Republican spokesman for education. He's also the best on immigration. Republicans in Congress should just invite him to every debate on either issue and let him do the talking. Politico reports on his comments delivered in Washington today about immigration and the Dream Act.
“It’s used as a political tool for both parties,” Bush said, of immigration generally. “The Democrats, I think, are more shameless because they use it as a wedge issue, promising things that they’re never going to deliver, knowing they’re not going to deliver. I think it happens all the time.”
“The president would, I think, earn tremendous points if he just went to the border and listened to people and sensed the frustration and determined that it’s different in Chicago maybe than it is in Tucson,” Bush said.
Bush, whose wife Columba was born in Mexico and who has deep appeal with Hispanic voters in his home state, said he’s sympathetic to what the DREAM Act is trying to accomplish: creating a path to citizenship for tens of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants who attend college or serve in the military for at least two years.
But he was more insistent that the fix should be part of a broader package...“It is so clear that the first element of comprehensive immigration reform must be to control the border,” he said.
Bush strikes me as the best candidate for maintaining balance on this important issue. He is never shrill and can be hard-hitting on border control without ever once appearing xenophobic. And he can argue for the importance of naturalizing children of illegal immigrants without ever once becoming a squish.
