Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that immigration reform is needed in part because immigrants are ?more fertile? than native U.S. citizens, so they can help offset population declines and boost the economy.
Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition?s ?Road to Majority? conference in Washington, Bush said the country needs an influx of younger workers to replace aging ones to retire in the coming years.
Continue Reading?We?re going to have fewer workers taking care of a larger number of people than the country has a social contract with, to be able to allow them to retire with dignity and purpose,? he said. ?We cannot do that with the fertility rates that we have in our country.?
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That problem could be solved with more immigrants, Bush said.
?Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population,? he said, adding that immigrants also create new businesses and are an ?engine of economic prosperity.?
Bush has long said that his party needs to do a better job of reaching out to the country?s Latino and immigrant population, and has been one of the GOP?s more outspoken messengers on the issue.
But he got in trouble earlier this year for some seemingly contradictory statements on his support for pathway to citizenship.
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Bush and Clint Bolick, the co-author of his book, ?Immigration Wars,? wrote a January Wall Street Journal op-ed that called for a pathway to citizenship. But in a March interview with ?The Today Show? to discuss the book, he appeared to distance himself from that position. The book calls for ?permanent legal resident status? rather than citizenship.
?If we want to create an immigration policy that?s going to work, we can?t continue to make illegal immigration an easier path than legal immigration,? he said. ?There?s a natural friction between our immigrant heritage and the rule of law.?
In an NBC interview later that night, however, he clarified: ?I think we need comprehensive reform,? he said. ?If there is a path to citizenship that has enough of a realization that we have to respect the rule of law, then so be it.?
During his Friday speech, the oft-discussed 2016 presidential prospect said the Republican Party failed to win back the White House in November because the party?s brand is ?perceived to be tarnished.?
?We haven?t really offered a compelling alternative? to Obama?s policies, he said.
Bush also spoke about the importance of reclaiming the idea of ?family?? and recognizing that some families are ?nontraditional.?
?Let me remind you, families don?t look all the time like they used to, and that?s ok,? he said. ?We have to be supportive of a single mom or dad, or the grandmother taking care of young children, the nontraditional family.?
Bush didn?t give any hints as to his future national ambitions, but he did tell ABC News that his parents are split on whether he should seek the White House.
?I think we?ve got a split ballot amongst the Bush senior family. Pretty sure that?s the case,? a smiling Bush said in a ?This Week? segment to air Sunday.
His mother, Barbara Bush, said earlier this year that the country has had ?enough Bushes? in the White House.
Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/jeb-bush-immigrants-are-more-fertile-92801.html
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