海角大神

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush鈥檚 waffling on whether most undocumented immigrants should be able to become US citizens was the quick headline from his new book, "Immigration Wars."

But the Sunshine State Republican has a slew of other ideas for the immigration debate.

For example, did you know Mr. Bush thinks all US citizens should have to pass a much tougher version of the US citizenship exam to graduate from high school?

There鈥檚 good reason the question about citizenship took top billing in discussing Bush鈥檚 book, released on Tuesday. He's been one of the most prominent Republicans advocating outreach to Latinos through a 鈥減athway to citizenship鈥� 鈥� an immigration code phrase broadly indicating that most of the nation鈥檚 more than 10 million unauthorized immigrants would be able to obtain US citizenship at some point 鈥� but his "Immigration Wars" argues the opposite.

Still, there鈥檚 a lot more to the book than just a flip-flop on who should become a citizen, and he takes on some of the right鈥檚 main critiques of comprehensive immigration reform.

Bush seeks to revamp the country's overall legal immigration system, shifting visas from the current system, which is largely family-based, toward employment-based migration.

In three important cases, Bush takes issue with fundamental components of his party鈥檚 opposition to prior immigration reform proposals. First, he disagrees with those who believe overall US immigration should decrease from its current level of roughly 1 million new permanent residents per year.

鈥淟eft to its own devices and without increased immigration, America鈥檚 population is shrinking,鈥� Bush writes. 鈥淲e need more immigrants to stem that debilitating demographic tide.鈥�

Second, he rejects the idea, frequently voiced by conservatives, that they鈥檒l only consider reforming the immigration system once America鈥檚 borders are secure.

鈥淢any on the right say that we must secure the border before we do anything to reform our immigration system. The fact is that we can鈥檛 do one without the other,鈥� Bush writes.

After听going down a list of unsolvable riddles in immigration policy 鈥� for example, what counts as 鈥渙perational control鈥� of the border 鈥� he asks with some exasperation: 鈥淲hat exactly is the magic moment we must wait for before we can fix the broken immigration system?鈥�

Third, he rebuts the idea that those wishing to come to the United States without family or employment connections can somehow 鈥済et in line鈥� to become US citizens.

鈥淢ost Americans probably don鈥檛 realize that the traditional avenue of immigration is all but foreclosed by our current system,鈥� Bush writes. There are 250 applications for each of the 50,000 slots in the nation鈥檚 annual 鈥渄iversity visa鈥� lottery system, he adds. This is the chief way those without family or employment ties can come to America.

鈥淲hile past immigrants 鈥榳aited their turn in line,鈥� there is no line in which most of those aspiring to become Americans can wait with any realistic hope of gaining admission," he writes.

In terms of new policy, Bush aims to greatly expand employment-based visas, at the expense of family-based visas. He would redirect roughly half the number of family-based green cards (currently accounting for some 60 percent of the US immigration stream) to employment purposes. The family immigration reduction would be achieved by limiting family-based immigration to immigrants' spouses and minor children, down from current policy that also includes parents and siblings, among others.听

He also would offer an unlimited number of visas to investors and entrepreneurs, while giving all employment-based immigrants the right to green cards after a set number of years.

As for regulating the flow of employment-based workers, Bush's approach is strikingly similar to the agreement struck between the US Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO in recent weeks on how to regulate the flow of low-skilled temporary workers: Let the market decide.听

Bush would base the number of work-based employment visas on skills in demand and unemployment rates in specific occupations.听The plan backed by the chamber and organized labor would match immigration levels to employment needs.

Moreover, Bush proposes consolidating immigration and naturalization activities under a new immigration bureau or perhaps within an existing structure, such as the US Department of Commerce, which has a strong incentive to promote immigration. With these activities currently a part of the Department of Homeland Security, he says, security concerns have often trampled other US interests involving immigration.

Overall, the book leaves the impression that Bush would like to fit on the more conservative end of his party鈥檚 immigration spectrum rather than the leading edge, where he found himself over the past half-decade.

At the Republican National Convention last August, Bush said he supported the DREAM Act, legislation that would allow many young undocumented immigrants up to age 35 who had obtained a high school degree or served in the military to become US citizens.

鈥淚鈥檓 not running for anything,鈥� Bush , 鈥渟o I can say whatever I want.鈥�
听
In his book, however, Bush still supports a path to citizenship for the so-called DREAMers 鈥� but now, with a potential 2016 presidential campaign on the horizon, only up to age 18.