Jeb Bush, Love, and Today's GOP

During a recent visit to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, Jeb Bush told Fox News that the country needs to "get beyond the harsh political rhetoric" associated with the immigration debate. Then, about illegal immigrants, Bush said this: "Yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony. It's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family."

He's right. Nevertheless, with those few words, Bush did something radical. He ascribed to the illegal immigrants whom some in the GOP have spent decades dehumanizing, demonizing, and denigrating a set of qualities that make them appear human. We might even call some of them admirable. In a country where so many parents are content to let other people provide for their children, either through charity or government assistance, illegal immigrants take risks and put themselves in danger to provide for their families. Imagine.

Yet Bush also left out an important piece of the puzzle. Coming into the United States without proper documents may be an act of love, but it is also an act of disrespect toward this country, its people and its laws. Those who want to reform our immigration system and provide legal status to the undocumented must accept this reality.

What was Bush thinking? Actually, unlike many of his fellow Republicans, Bush seems to think quite deeply about issues such as immigration. If you've ever been in the room, as I have, when he is speaking about immigrants and the contributions they make to our society, no matter how they got here, you'll see that he understands that our country is getting the better end of the bargain. It was true 100 years ago, and it is true now.

Many in the GOP don't agree with this assessment, even if they're not willing to say it out loud. Either Bush is wrong about illegal immigrants, or other Republicans are. And so those who disagree with him have no choice but to attack him and declare an end to his political career. That's premature.

Stubbornness is in the DNA of the GOP. Just as there will always be Democrats who won't admit that illegal immigrants did a bad thing, there will also always be Republicans who won't accept that they're not all bad people.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.