Former Governor Jeb Bush (R., Fla.) described providing a legal status to illegal immigrants in the country as “the only serious, thoughtful way” to conclude an immigration law reform that begins with securing the border.
“Immigrants that are here need to have a path to legalized status,” Bush said when asked how he would overhaul immigration laws as president during the Iowa Ag Summit. “No one I know has a plan to deal with illegal immigrants, to say that they are going to be rounded up and taken away. There isn’t a specific plan. What we need to do is to make sure people pay fines, that they learn English, that they work, that they don’t receive government assistance, that they earn legalized status over the long haul, that they come out from the shadows so that they can be productive with a provisional work permit. This is the only serious, thoughtful way, I think, to deal with this.”
Bush prefaced that statement by explaining his preference for tightening enforcement of immigration laws in the country.
“It starts with recognizing that the rule of law is a sacred value in our country, that we need to enforce our border, we need deal with the fact that forty percent of our illegal immigrants come with a legal visa and they overstay their bounds; great countries ought to know where those folks are,” he said. “It has an e-verify system that is truly verifiable, that is something that businesses can take to the bank; and that we get that done first so that there is confidence moving forward that legal immigration will be easier than illegal immigration, because today I think a lot of people have big doubts about that.”
Although Bush mentioned the need to track people who overstay their visas, it was former Governor Rick Perry (R., Texas) who received applause by stating explicitly that when someone’s visa expires “your time is up; you’re out of here.”
Bush also said that the U.S. should change its policy of allowing people to immigrate based on who has extended family members already in the country, saying instead that the government should “dramatically expand, based on economic need, economic immigrants.”