Jeb pushes back on Trump comments: Mexican immigration rate ‘basically flat’

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said on Sunday that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is mistaken for blaming the immigration crisis on Mexico.

Bush added that most of the nation’s influx of illegal immigrants is actually coming from Central America instead.

{mosads}“Right now the number of Mexicans crossing the border is basically flat,” he told host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on AM 970 in New York.

“The immigrants that are crossing legally or illegally in both cases are from Central America now,” he said. “It changes.”

“What shouldn’t change is our commitment to respecting the rule of law and our commitment to support the security of our borders,” added Bush, another Republican White House hopeful in 2016.

Bush argued on Sunday that Trump’s immigration platform would be too costly and impractical.

“What Donald Trump is proposing is a wall that can’t be built, and if it was, it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said, citing Trump’s call for a wall on America’s border with Mexico.

“He wants everyone deported, which would tear family lives asunder,” Bush said. “It would probably be unconstitutional.

“It’s not conservative and it’s not realistic and it does not embrace American values,” he added of Trump’s immigration policies.

Bush admitted on Sunday that Trump is resonating with voters because he feeds off of their collective frustration.

“The Trump phenomenon is real,” he said. “He has captured a sizable amount of support based on connecting with people’s anxiety about what the future looks like. He is not offering any compelling proposals, though.”