The United States needs to welcome immigrants and thank them for doing the jobs that Americans won’t do, former President George W. Bush said.
“Americans don’t want to pick cotton at 105 degrees, but there are people who want to put food on their family’s tables and are willing to do that. We ought to say thank you and welcome them,” Bush said while speaking at a summit in Abu Dhabi.
The former president used the opportunity to criticize President Donald Trump for his approach to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“America is their home,” Bush said referring to DACA recipients, known as Dreamers.
Last year, Trump announced that he would end the program and gave the Congress a six-month deadline to pass legislation to protect the Dreamers. Lawmakers are still working on a deal that would satisfy Trump’s demands for funding for a border wall and other increased security measures, The Hill reports.
According to Bush, the U.S. immigration system is broken and has to be fixed. Bush also said that there is pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled in the 2016 presidential election, according to Politico.
“Whether (Russia) affected the outcome is another question. It’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results,” Bush said.
Even though he did not mention Trump by name, his statements on the issue did appear to target him. Bush described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “zero-sum.”
“He can’t think, ‘How can we both win?’ He only thinks, ‘How do I win, you lose?’ He’s got a chip on his shoulder. The reason he does is because of the demise of the Soviet Union troubles him. Therefore, much of his moves (are) to regain Soviet hegemony … That’s why NATO is very important,” Bush said.
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