Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is outlining a six-point technique to bolster safety on the nation’s border and overhaul its immigration legal guidelines. Bush, Trump and eight other Republican candidates will participate in the first presidential debate of the 2016 season on Thursday in Cleveland, televised by Fox News.
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“States ought to create standards”, said Bush, who, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, is one of just two supporters of the standards in the race, and is taking a beating for it from his rivals.
The third immigration plan focuses on improved infrastructure.
Border patrol agents should have easier access to federal lands that sit on the border, he wrote.
Bush calls for withholding federal law enforcement funds for sanctuary cities that “undermine federal immigration laws”. Bush does note that employers who have used E-Verify “in good faith” yet employed an immigrant based on incorrect eligibility information should not be penalized. He calls for “continuous surveillance” of the border through the use of technology, including drones, which “can give our agents a fuller picture of the illegal activity that in turn will enable the country to better allocate resources on the border”.
He also calls for increased funding for “overstay enforcement” and an intergovernmental task force to locate and apprehend those who overstay their visas.
“We should also expand federal partnerships that train state and local police to help enforce immigration laws, particularly in jails and prisons”, Bush says. Bush will outline the plan in a Medium post on Monday ahead of the Voters First Forum at Saint Anselm College.
The final immigration plan is on “sanctuary cities”.
The former Florida governor said Monday that finding a solution to the status of people in the country illegally “is a nonstarter if our borders are not secure against future illegal immigration”.
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“While passions run high on this issue, there is no rational plan to deport millions of people that the American people would support”, Bush wrote. He noted President Barack Obama had more than six years to fix the broken immigration system and claimed he divided the country on the topic instead of forming a compromise.
