While Jeb Bush has been known to be a little more more liberal-minded than most GOP leaders, he makes the argument that conservatives have been making every time amnesty has been pushed by Democrats and even some liberal Republicans. Rewarding illegal immigrants with any path to citizenship is not fair to immigrants who did come to the country legally and encourages more illegal immigration because they will see those illegal actions being rewarded.
But in a Monday interview with NBC's “Today," Bush advocated for a system in which the millions of immigrants living in the country illegally be given the option of attaining permanent residency, but not eventual citizenship.
“There has to be some difference between people who come here legally and illegally. It’s just a matter of common sense and a matter of the rule of law,” he said. “If we’re not going to apply the law fairly and consistently, then we’re going to have another wave of illegal immigrants coming into the country.”
