George W. Bush publishes WaPo op-ed on immigration

[President Johnson]

It's actually worth reading. For all his faults and major errors, Dubya held mostly reasonable positions on immigration.

https://twitter.com/PostOpinions/status/1383426885225308164

George W. Bush: Immigration is a defining asset of the United States. Here’s how to restore confidence in our system.

[...]

One place to start is DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Americans who favor a path to citizenship for those brought here as children, known as "dreamers," are not advocating open borders. They just recognize that young men and women who grew up in the United States, and who never knew any other place as home, are fundamentally American. And they ought not be punished for choices made by their parents.

Another opportunity for agreement is the border. I have long said that we can be both a lawful and a welcoming nation at the same time. We need a secure and efficient border, and we should apply all the necessary resources — manpower, physical barriers, advanced technology, streamlined and efficient ports of entry, and a robust legal immigration system — to assure it.

[...]

As for the millions of undocumented men and women currently living in the United States, a grant of amnesty would be fundamentally unfair to those who came legally or are still waiting their turn to become citizens. But undocumented immigrants should be brought out of the shadows through a gradual process in which legal residency and citizenship must be earned, as for anyone else applying for the privilege.

[...]

If we trust those instincts in the current debate, then bipartisan reform is possible. And we will again see immigration for what it is: not a problem and source of discord, but a great and defining asset of the United States.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Seems wholly reasonable, which means it’s dead on arrival with the Republican Party.

[It’s so Joever]

Realignment moment.

[brucejoel99]

Too bad his opinion carries negative weight with the GOP of today.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

People want to live in the US because George W Bush never tries to violently regime change the US.

[Crumpets]

These should be called WaPEds. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[Badger]

Seems wholly reasonable, which means it’s dead on arrival with the Republican Party.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Too bad his opinion carries negative weight with the GOP of today.

..

Yes, due to fact Latinos are on Entitlements both parties.have contributed to it Reagan giving Per Capita to Native Americans assimilated by intermarrying with Latinos and Japanese getting per capita and no reparations for African American

That's why PR Statehood is unpopular and Manchin is only for DC Statehood

LATINOS here are already on enough Entitlements, lol Immigration Reform isn't everything

Immigration reform may get passed in next session of Congress, but PR Statehood will remain a Commonwealth

[vitoNova]

His love of Mexicans is the reason why he left office with a 19% approval rating.  

His base loved it when he bombed the Ayrabs.  But they weren't feeling his latino love.

[Hope For A New Era]

I'm becoming more and more confident that he voted for Biden in 2020.

Realignment!

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I am all in on Immigration reform when Covid is over, we don't need a Progressive Immigration Reform bill and SCOTUS would say so as well in a Pandemic.

Anyways the Ds don't have the votes to Crt pack until 2023 at the latest

[junior chįmp]

Bush should wrote an op-ed apologizing for doing 9/11

[Badger]

His love of Mexicans is the reason why he left office with a 19% approval rating.  

Um, no. My memory isn't perfect, but I vaguely recall couple other niggling issues at the time.

Something something economic collapse something housing crisis something Quagmire? Not much recollection about Mexicans though.

[Frodo]

I know Bush's op-ed will be met with scowls from the usual suspects here and in real-life, but immigration is one of the few issues on which I saw eye-to-eye with him.  

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I'm sorry, but as nice as this op-ed is, it's not going to make Jeb president any sooner.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

It's apparent that D's won't get the Supermajorities needed to push thru Statehood for PR and they certainly don't have the votes now to push thru comprehensive Immigration reform

Immigration reform needs to be deferred to after Covid is over with, Gavin Newsom and D's in Cali has opened the door to amnesty in Cali and Latinos have jumped ahead of everyone else Especially Section 8 vouchers and most of the Homeless population is Afro American not other Minorities, and he is being recalled because voters aren't satisfied and he gave a stimulus check to people that only worked and the state gives GR to Homeless

I wouldn't mind seeing Newsom recalled, not by my vote of course, but with the WC and Steyer become Gov, he would give 600 to everyone, D's would win Gov right back in 2022

[Sir Mohamed]

W is actually right, but maybe he should have tried harder for a major reform of the immigration while he was POTUS instead of invading countries that destabilized a whole region for over a decade? Dems could get it done without support from the GOP if Manchin and Sinema were courageous enough to nuke the filibuster. Otherwise, nothing serious gets done.

[Del Tachi]

Other than his commitment to DACA, this op-ed is the standard GOP position on immigration:  stronger borders with a pathway to citizenship for non-criminal aliens.   

Like a typical Republican, Dubya avoids any mention of requiring employers to use E-Verify, thus ensuring that businesses can continue hiring illegal workers with zero consequence.  This actually used to be a hill that pro-labor and conservative Democrats would die on in the 1990s-2000s.

The politics around immigration in this country continue to get more and more abstract.  Democrats have succeeded in making it into a racial "culture war" issue instead of talking about its basic national security or economic considerations.       

[Roronoa D. Law]

Other than his commitment to DACA, this op-ed is the standard GOP position on immigration:  stronger borders with a pathway to citizenship for non-criminal aliens.  

Like a typical Republican, Dubya avoids any mention of requiring employers to use E-Verify, thus ensuring that businesses can continue hiring illegal workers with zero consequence.  This actually used to be a hill that pro-labor and conservative Democrats would die on in the 1990s-2000s.

The politics around immigration in this country continue to get more and more abstract.  Democrats have succeeded in making it into a racial "culture war" issue instead of talking about its basic national security or economic considerations.      

You got to admit that what animates most Republicans on the subject of immigration continues to be the racial demographics of said immigrants.

If they cared about national security then many Republican leaders will be for beefing up cybersecurity against actual threats likes Russia and China or come out strongly to condemn white nationalist groups who make up the largest threat to American national security. If they cared about economic issues then they will support a minimum wage increase, affordable college so people can rise in socioeconomic status, and training in emerging markets for those who can not.

Instead, Republican leaders ignore all of those things and instead double down on the same racist tropes that immigrants are bringing crime and pose a threat against the native culture. It is why some fringe conspiracies theory like the "Replacement Theory" is even known among a broader public and why people like GWB find themselves left of the current right-wing movement.

[All Along The Watchtower]

The politics around immigration in this country continue to get more and more abstract.  Democrats have succeeded in making it into a racial "culture war" issue instead of talking about its basic national security or economic considerations.      

This is objectively false. Democrats have done no such thing, nor have they ever intended to. Pete Wilson, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, Joe Arpaio, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller - not Democrats.

But you know this. So I can only assume you are arguing in bad faith.

[Diabolical Materialism]

Regardless of what it is, I have no interest in what George Bush has to say outside of a guilty plea at the Hague.

[Calthrina950]

Regardless of what it is, I have no interest in what George Bush has to say outside of a guilty plea at the Hague.

Adding to this, Republicans themselves have no interest in hearing what W. Bush has to say anymore. I caught part of an interview which he did with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell, and she questioned him as to whether or not he was working behind the scenes in favor of immigration reform. He didn't come across as too confident in that regards. Much of the Republican base despises Bush now, and would rather listen to Trump, who many of them continue to idolize and who takes a much tougher stance on the issue.