Speaking in the early presidential state of South Carolina on Tuesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush defended his views on immigration and said that if people want to consider running for office they need to “stop preying on people’s fears” and “stop dividing us.”
“I have not seen, I don’t know if you’ve seen, a plan that says ’we’re going to deport everybody,’” Mr. Bush said at a breakfast event in Greenville on Tuesday morning, kicking off a multiday swing through the state.
“If you have, please pass it on. I’d love to see it. Jeb@jeb.org is my email address if you’ve got a plan. I haven’t seen one.
“The cost of that would be enormous, the time would be enormous, the disruption would be enormous,” he said. “A better plan would be to say, allow people a path to legalized status. Let them earn legalized status — paying fines, working, not receiving government assistance. Learning English. And over a period of time, you earn legalized status where you come out from the shadows. … But you’re not cutting in the line with people that have been patiently waiting to try to come in legally.”
Mr. Bush, a potential Republican presidential candidate, has been critical of President Obama’s executive actions providing millions of illegal immigrants with a path to temporary legal status. He said during a recent stop in New Hampshire that Congress should be encouraged to pass a budget that prioritizes spending more money on the border.
He said Tuesday that another part of an immigration plan entails shared values.
“It doesn’t matter where you start, where you came from — if you embrace those values, you learn English, you have a respect for our history and our heritage, you’re as American as anybody else,” he said.
“You’re looking at a guy who believes what he believes,” said Mr. Bush, who has received criticism from some conservatives for his stance on immigration.
But Mr. Bush called for embracing disagreements.
“I’m open to other people’s thoughts. I’m not doctrinaire about my beliefs, but I believe passionately in things. And the fact that not everybody agrees — I don’t look at it ’Oh, end is near.’ I say, ’I better figure out a better way to persuade.’”
“What’s so strange today is that we’re fearful of having people having a dialogue where there’s, you know, disagreement,” he said. “How do we sort out our problems, how do we work to consensus, how do we get where we need to be unless you allow for and tolerate some disagreement?”
Echoing remarks he made last week in a trip to New Hampshire — where he called his immigration proposals “the grown-up plan” — he said the nation must act on the matter and accused people who disagree with emoting and demagoguing.
“If people have a better idea, I’d like to hear it. But doing nothing — is that a plan? Doing nothing — just let this linger over and over again, these missed opportunities that we have — that’s not a plan. That’s a sentiment. That’s an emotion. That’s preying on people’s fears,” he said.
“And people that want to consider running for office have to stop preying on people’s fears and stop dividing us and start forging consensus so that we can move forward,” he said to applause.
Mr. Bush then hinted at potential things to come.
“No final words other than the fact that you probably are going to be sick and tired of seeing me up here,” he quipped. “I’m excited about the possibilities. I’m learning a lot on this journey, and I look forward to being with you in the months to come.”
Mr. Bush also said Mr. Obama is an enemy of progress who would rather divide the country.
“It’s the president’s responsibility to reweave the web of civility and to improve the discourse, and this guy does not believe it’s his priority or his mission to do that,” Mr. Bush said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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