Bush, Kasich clash with Trump on immigration
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday teamed up to attack Donald Trump for his immigration stance, as the GOP presidential front-runner tried to swat their arguments away.
“To send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not possible, and its not embracing American values and it would tear communities apart,” Bush said at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wis.
{mosads}”Even having this conversation sends a powerful signal. They are doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this.”
Bush — who has seen a slide in the polls as Trump and other rivals have drowned him out — made a case for practicality over rhetoric, in what was seen as a sharp dig at Trump.
Kasich noted that President Ronald Reagan, a conservative icon, allowed more than a million law-abiding undocumented immigrants to stay in the country.
“Come on, folks, we all know you can’t pick them up and ship them across the border,” Kasich said. “It’s a silly argument.”
Trump immediately struck back on Kasich’s remark, noting that President Dwight Eisenhower removed more than a million immigrants during his presidency.
That program was called “Operation Wetback,” an offensive racial slur for Mexicans. The fact-check website Politifact noted earlier this year that the estimates of immigrants removed ranged from 100,000 to 1.3 million.
Trump then turned personal, brushing aside Kasich.
“You should let Jeb speak,” the real estate magnate told the Ohio governor.
“I’ve built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don’t have to hear from this man,” he said to jeers from the crowd.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) jumped to Trump’s defense, warning the GOP against joining the Democrats “as the party of amnesty” and adding that undocumented immigrants are hurting American workers.
“The politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers and bakers were crossing the Rio Grande, or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press,” he said.
“Then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And I will say, for those of us who believe that people ought to come to this country legally and we should enforce the law, we are tired of being told it is anti-immigrant, it is offensive.”
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