Former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., who is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination, moved right on immigration this week, taking aim at President Barack Obamas executive actions on immigration.
Bush appeared on Michael Medveds national radio show on Tuesday and said he would support repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) -- executive actions from Obama allowing around 5 million illegals to stay in the U.S. without facing being deported. As he nears a presidential bid, Bush has drawn fire from conservatives on immigration. Bush has been a vocal critic of the Arizona immigration law and has backed immigration reform.
"Yes I would," Bush answered when Medved asked if he would repeal Obamas actions on immigration. "Its possible that by the time the next president arrives, the courts will have overturned those because this concept of prosecutorial discretion, which is what hes used as the basis for these executive orders, is to look at cases on a case-by-case basis and hes had millions of people basically by the stroke of a pen be given temporary status.
Despite opposing Obamas executive actions, Bush said he still supported immigration reform and wants Congress to tackle the issue.
I think the better answer is to fix the immigration problem, to solve it the regular order way, which is to go to Congress, have a proposal, work on a bipartisan fashion to fix a broken immigration system, Bush told Medved.
Bush drew fire from the left for his opposition to Obamas executive order. Randy Borntrager, the political director for liberal group People for the American Way, fired away at Bush on Wednesday.
Ending President Obamas executive actions means subjecting millions of hard-working immigrants to deportation, Borntrager said on Wednesday. By stating his intent to repeal these actions, Jeb Bush announced his unabashed support for deporting DREAMers.
After years of gridlock in Congress and Republicans' vehement opposition to immigration reform, Jeb Bush's calls for legislation to protect DREAMers is a farce, Borntrager added. The next president must protect DREAMers and immigrant families whether or not Congress takes action, and Jeb Bush just told us that he absolutely wont.
Bush announced back in December that he was exploring running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. So far, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida and former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson are running for the Republican nomination.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
