Jeb Bush Uses Democrat Talking Point: ‘Not Sure’ Sanctuary Cities for Illegals Are a ‘Problem’ in Florida

Former Florida governor and failed presidential candidate Jeb Bush (R) is questioning why Florida’s current governor, Ron DeSantis (R), is pushing to ban sanctuary cities that protect criminal illegal aliens in the state.

As Breitbart News has chronicled, DeSantis has led an initiative in Florida to ban sanctuary city jurisdictions across the state. The plan, which has already passed the state Senate, would fine a locality or county $5,000 every day that it enforces a sanctuary policy.

Bush used the same rhetoric that elected Democrats have used against the sanctuary city ban, claiming DeSantis is only trying to score political points and that jurisdictions shielding illegal aliens from deportation are not a problem in Florida.

Bush said, according to Politico:

This is one of those new political issues where it’s designed to make a point rather than to solve a problem. I’m not sure we have this problem. But it could be in the last few years something has changed. [Emphasis added]

Democrat Andrew Gillum, whom DeSantis beat out in last year’s gubernatorial election, has made similar claims to that of Bush’s statement that sanctuary cities do not exist in Florida.

The left-leaning fact-checking site PolitiFact debunked Gillum’s claim that there were no sanctuary cities in the state, writing, “Whether Florida has sanctuary cities is not as settled as Gillum claimed.”

Currently, Alachua County, Florida, refuses to turn illegal aliens over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even after a national is accused of a crime. Likewise, West Palm Beach County, Florida, bans local officials from aiding ICE with investigations into criminal illegal aliens.

The Bush family has long campaigned for and supported a globalist illegal and legal immigration policy for the U.S. Aside from supporting amnesty, both Jeb Bush and his brother, former President George W. Bush, oppose cutting legal immigration levels to boost Americans’ wages and reduce foreign competition against working-class Americans.

Former President George H.W. Bush infamously signed into law the Immigration Act of 1990, which created the series of employment-based visas allowing businesses and corporations to readily import cheaper foreign workers rather than hire American citizens. Bush’s immigration law also increased legal immigration flows from Central America, South America, and Mexico to the U.S.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.