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He said, during a discussion with Univision, that it was "ridiculous" to think that DREAMers, children brought to the U.S. by their parents illegally, shouldn't have an "accelerated path" to citizenship.

Then, the former Florida governor was speaking to a friendly audience of establishment Republicans, after re-inserting himself in the immigration reform with the release of a controversial book on the issue a month prior.

But as he moves towards a probable presidential run, and the far less friendly terrain of the GOP primary fight, the comments, which were shared with CNN by Democratic tracking firm American Bridge, are certain to deepen already developing headaches for him on both the left and especially the right, as conservatives react in a mixture of bewilderment and eye-rolling when confronted with some of Bush's resurfaced lines on immigration.

"I've never felt like the sins of the parents should be ascribed to the children, you know," Bush said in 2013. "If your children always have to pay the price for adults decisions they make how fair is that? For people who have no country to go back to which are many of the DREAMers it's ridiculous to think that there shouldn't be some accelerated path to citizenship."

Bush's spokeswoman, Kristy Campbell, said the comments didn't mark a departure from Bush's previously-stated positions on immigration reform. Bush wasn't suggesting, she said, that border security isn't an important aspect of reform.

"Governor Bush has been extraordinarily clear that we need to address the border crisis by fixing our broken immigration system. Border security is a key and chief component of sustainable and effective immigration reform," she said.

Other comments included that Bush declared that "it's not possible in a free country to completely control the border without us losing our freedoms and liberties."

He even suggested the mayor of Detroit the economically depressed Midwestern city where he's giving his first policy address of the 2016 campaign on Wednesday use immigration to "repopulate" the city.

RELATED: Bush pitches 'reform conservatism' in Detroit

"It just seems to me that maybe if you open up our doors in a fair way and unleashed the spirit of peoples' hard work, Detroit could become in really short order, one of the great American cities again," Bush said then. "Now it would look different, it wouldn't be Polish...But it would be just as powerful, just as exciting, just as dynamic. And that's what immigration does and to be fearful of this, it just seems bizarre to me."

Original post:
Past Bush immigration remarks shock conservatives - CNN.com

Joseph M. McKinney and Christian S. Allen 11:15 p.m. CST February 4, 2015

Joseph M. McKinney is an attorney with the Nashville office of Dickinson Wright, PLLC, a Michigan-based law firm with offices across the United States and Canada. McKinney can be reached at JMckinney@dickinsonwright.com.(Photo: Submitted)

Immigration reform has long been a topic of interest to business owners.

From its impact on employees, to the reduced burdens of document compliance, to potential economic stimulation, the tentacles of such legislation would undoubtedly touch the business sector.

Questions as to how it would be positive or negative and to what extent are in closer reach.

After years of discussion and debate, reform has taken its first steps with President Obamas immigration accountability executive action. As the nation watches to see how these reforms will translate into government actions, and whether Congress will be successful in stymying their implementation, these plans offer the potential to improve upon our business community.

Out of the shadows

The keystone of proposed reform is the presidents plan for expansion of the deferred action program, which would table deportation for millions of people currently living in the United States.

Coupled with provisions for prosecution discretion meaning deportation would largely be targeted on drug and crime offenders, not people trying to make a living a large population of immigrants are likely to be at least temporarily freed from the ever-present threat of deportation.

As such, it is estimated that deferred action programs would result in 4.4 million more people being temporarily allowed to stay in the U.S. in a quasi-legal status and being given temporary work authorization.

Excerpt from:
Immigration reform is good for business

Many Americans are upset by the decision of President Obama to issue an executive order to reform immigration policy. The executive order effectively grants undocumented immigrants the legal right to remain in the United States if they have been here five years and are parents, children, or spouses of citizens or of legal residents. The president says that he did this because Congress has not passed an immigration reform bill.

Obamas impatience with Congress on immigration reform is understandable. Government has allowed millions of immigrants to remain in the United States even though they are violating the law by being here. Since it costs about $23,000 to deport an undocumented immigrant, it would be fiscally irresponsible to try to deport a significant percentage of them. Thus, we need to reform immigration policy so that we have a law that we can afford to enforce.

Opponents of the presidents executive order are concerned that it effectively grants amnesty to immigrants who have violated immigration law, thereby undermining the rule of law.

Something is fundamentally wrong when one federal law makes it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants while other laws prohibit firms from considering an applicants nationality, citizenship, or immigration status in hiring decisions. Although talking tough on immigration may win some conservative votes, deporting any substantial number of those here illegally is not a viable alternative. Letting immigrants come or stay if firms are willing to hire them as guest workers could contribute to economic growth, increased tax revenue, and a reduction in government debt.

The most important drawback to welcoming immigrants is the cost of government services that some of them use. The opportunity to work need not be connected to the right to government benefits and if it is, immigrants could be required to pay a fee to reside in the United States. Requiring payment of an additional fee to account for their prior undocumented status might be a good way to provide a path to citizenship or permanent residence for those who are already here.

Then America could again become the land of opportunity that it once was.

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Dr. Tracy Miller is an associate professor of economics at Grove City College and fellow for economic theory and policy with The Center for Vision & Values.

View post:
Immigration reform needs scrutiny

U.S. Senate Republicans failed to block funding for President Barack Obamas immigration plan Wednesday for the second time in two days during an ongoing battle over the funding of theDepartment of Homeland Security. The 53-47 vote forestalled another attempt to undermine the Obama executive actions that offer several million undocumented immigrants reprieves from deportation and that agencies under the Homeland Security umbrella are charged with carrying out. Senate Democrats blocked a similar $39.7 billion funding bill Tuesday.

In less than three weeks, the Homeland Security will run out of money. The vote Wednesday should push the White House and congressional Republicans closer to the negotiating table for a bill that funds the department in charge of protecting U.S. residents from terrorist attacks, as well as handing immigration matters. Senate Republicans Wednesday accused their Democratic counterparts of deliberately endangering the American people by blocking the bill.

The legislation Democrats are filibustering would fund the Department of Homeland Security, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. It would also protect American democracy from overreach described by President Obama as unwise and unfair. Thats it. You would think a bill like this would pass overwhelmingly.

Democrats speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon said they would consider only a clean Homeland Security funding bill without the provisions attacking the presidents immigration initiatives. If Congress misses its Feb. 27 deadline, many in the departments 240,000-person workforce would have to work without pay, Obama has warned.

Homeland Security consists of 22 different federal agencies that were streamlined to defend against and respond to terrorist attacks; enhance immigration enforcement; and manage the federal response to man-made and natural disasters. In a reorganization, DHS absorbed the functions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agencies, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Famously criticized for its flawed response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, FEMA absorbed the functions of four other disaster-response offices.

More here:
Immigration Reform 2015: Republican Senators Fail In Second Vote To Defund Obama Immigrant Plan

To hear hard-liners tell it, this nations immigration problem boils down to one issue: border security. Fix it, and everything else will fall into place. In reality, if they were to divert every dollar in President Barack Obamas proposed $4 trillion budget for border security, Americas immigration problem would remain only half-solved.

Increased border security helps deter new migrants from entering and helps boost the number of apprehensions of those who do cross, such as the tens of thousands who surrendered at the border last summer. Yes, tighter border security helped ensure those crossers were captured immediately.

Once in U.S. custody, though, they join the hundreds of thousands already awaiting court hearings to determine whether they merit deportation. An appalling backlog in the nations immigration courts is why border security alone cant solve the problem. According to recent reports, thousands of unauthorized migrants are being told they must wait until 2019 before their day in court arrives.

The backlog is one that Congress has failed repeatedly to address, regardless of which party is in control. The fact that the GOP now controls both houses of Congress means Republicans can no longer avoid the court problem that the hard-liners intransigence on immigration reform has helped worsen.

Emphasis on border security has led to a tripling in staffing by the U.S. Border Patrol since 1997. Theres been a corresponding surge in the backlog faced by U.S. immigration courts because, while it might take only a few minutes to catch a border crosser, it can take an average of more than 800 days to process that migrant through the courts. There are only around 230 judges to handle the nearly 430,000 cases pending.

The frenzy of allocations in last falls federal spending bill to build detention centers and bolster border security didnt include similar increases in funding to hire more immigration court judges. If apprehensions at the border continue to rise as they did last year, the backlog seems destined to go from bad to worse.

Congress must not confuse funding for immigration courts with the threatened withholding of Homeland Security Department funds to punish the president for his unilateral action to protect millions of immigrants from deportation. Immigration courts are under Justice Department jurisdiction. The only way to ensure the speedy processing of those unauthorized immigrants already here is to give the courts the resources they need.

Members of Congress who insist on tougher security to cut the numbers of unauthorized immigrants in this country must give the law a chance to work. Adequate court funding is the only way to clear this horrendous backlog and ensure the rule of law is applied.

Link:
Editorial: Half-solutions to the immigration problem