Jeb Bush: Illegal Immigration Is an ‘Act of Love’

Over the weekend, Jeb Bush made news be laying out his hypothetical 2016 presidential platform. During an event at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas, the younger Bush suggested that his decision to run for president will hinge on whether he thinks he could avoid “the vortex of a mud fight” with a “hopeful” message.

One area in which Bush attempted to distance himself from harder-line conservatives was on immigration. Acknowledging that what he was about to say would be recorded — and “so be it” — Bush said that the way he sees it, when someone comes to the United States “because they couldn’t come legally” they are more often than not doing so as an “act of love.”

As an example, Bush talked about a father who crosses the border because he has no other means to feed his family. “Yes, they broke the law,” he said, “but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime.”

While he said there should be some “penalty” for the act of entering the United States illegally, he said the current system is not what it should be. “I think we need to get beyond the harsh political rhetoric to a better place,” he said.

Watch video below, via Fox News:

[photo via screengrab]

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