As Jeb Bush attempts to put as much distance between himself and Donald Trump on the topic of immigration, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been quick to lump the two together, calling Bush’s latest comments “extreme” and “out-of-touch.”
In a new video, the Clinton campaign seizes on Bush’s repeated references to “anchor babies” and his opposition to a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
The bilingual clip features back-to-back sound bites from Trump and Bush and was released as Bush wrapped up a day of meetings and fundraising in the border town of McAllen, Texas. Trump visited the U.S.-Mexico border late last month.
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“These days, there’s not much daylight between Jeb Bush and his Republican colleagues when it comes to immigration,” said Hillary for America Director of Hispanic Media Jorge Silva. “Since launching his presidential campaign, Bush has proven with his extreme, out-of-touch views that he’ll do anything to outdo Donald Trump and Scott Walker.”
Bush has tried to differentiate himself from Trump, saying Trump’s immigration plan “does not reflect our nation’s values” and is “not grounded in conservative principles.”
“The simple fact is that his proposal is unrealistic, it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, it will violate people’s civil liberties, it will create friction with our third largest trading partner,” Bush told reporters in McAllen. Trump, meanwhile, has seized on Bush’s “act of love” comment from last year. “I think it’s great that he’s going to the border because I think he’ll now find out that it is not an act of love,” Trump said on “Fox and Friends” Monday morning. The Clinton campaign released another video linking Trump and Bush last week, which asked: “Who’s the ‘reasonable one’ again?” That video also took aim specifically at Bush’s “anchor babies” comments. “If Republicans continue to wonder how to label these children, Hillary has already made it clear to them: They are not ‘anchor babies.’ They are babies. They are our neighbors. They are our families. They are part of our communities. They are American citizens. Period,” said Clinton’s Latino Outreach Director, Lorella Praeli, in a statement last week.
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