AP
By Thomas Beaumont
September 22, 2015
Republican
presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Tuesday that multiculturalism is
bad for the United States, adding that immigrants who close themselves
off from American
culture deny themselves access to economic rewards.
The
former governor of Florida, who speaks fluent Spanish and often touts
his success winning Latino votes in a party that badly needs them,
addressed the issue in a packed
northern Iowa diner as he met people in the crowd.
A
young woman approached the candidate and asked how the federal
government could help refugees better incorporate into U.S. society.
“We
should not have a multicultural society,” Bush said, before beginning a
longer explanation of his views of what comprises culture in the U.S.
“When
you create pockets of isolation — and in some places the process of
assimilation has been retarded because they’ve slowed down — it’s
wrong,” he added. “It limits
people’s aspirations.”
A multicultural society gives all cultures equal prominence, but they remain separate.
Bush’s
remarks appeared to conflict with the way he has presented himself
throughout the campaign and hew toward other GOP presidential hopefuls
who are hoping to appeal
to the party’s core supporters.
But
Bush said later he viewed multiculturalism as not aspiring to an
American ideal. “You have to have people assimilate into society. But
that doesn’t mean we have a
monolithic, homogeneous population. To the contrary,” he told The
Associated Press before headlining a legislative fundraiser in Cedar
Rapids. “The power of America is a set of shared values with a very
diverse population embracing it.”
Led
by billionaire developer Donald Trump, other GOP presidential hopefuls
have aired urged newcomers to assimilate. Some have suggested it’s their
duty.
Recently,
in South Carolina, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was interrupted by applause
when he said legal status for immigrants should be determined by what
they could contribute
and “whether they want to live in America or whether they want to be
American.”
Trump
has climbed to the top of national Republican preference polls in part
by using stronger language. He’s described illegal immigrants often as
violent, predatory
criminals, vowing to deport them by the millions and proposing to build
a wall between the United States and Mexico.
The
approach clashes with the Republican Party’s effort to attract support
from the increasingly influential Hispanic community, which the GOP has
named as critical to
the party’s successes. The national GOP is hosting events across the
country to mark Hispanic Heritage Month.
Compared
to most of his Republican rivals, Bush’s personal story gives his
credibility with Latinos. His wife, Columba, is a Mexican native. Bush
sometimes campaigns in
Spanish and is fond of relating details that highlight the influence of
Hispanic culture at home.
“We
eat Mexican food in the home. My children are Hispanic in many aspects.
We don’t talk about it, but the Hispanic influence is an important part
of my life,” Bush said
in a July interview with Telemundo.
Bush even took a shot at Trump on the issue, mocking the frontrunner’s credibility.
“Mr. Trump says that I can’t speak Spanish,” Bush, speaking Spanish, told supporters recently in Miami. “Pobrecito” (poor guy).
Yet
Bush has used the term “anchor babies” to describe infants whose
parents come to the United States specifically so the children are born
in the United States and granted
automatic citizenship. The term is considered offensive in the Hispanic
community. Bush later said he was referring mostly to the so-called
birth tourism industry that flies wealthy Asian women to the U.S. to
give birth — a real phenomenon that has drawn concern
from the Obama administration.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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