Jeb Bush to Congress: Don't use border crisis as 'excuse' to avoid immigration reform

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is urging Congress to show "compassion" for the migrant children streaming to the border and to address the issue head on by tackling comprehensive immigration reform.

The potential 2016 candidate and Clint Bolick, who co-authored a book last year on immigration, say in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that the crisis is the "latest consequence of the failure of President Obama and Congress to overhaul America's broken immigration system." So to remedy the problem, they urge House Republicans to take the lead, lest Obama unilaterally act on the issue himself.

"Now is the time for House Republicans to demonstrate leadership on this issue," they write. "Congress should not use the present crisis as an excuse to defer comprehensive immigration reform."

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Bush has previously said that many who enter the country illegally do so as an "act of love" to be with their families, and has often found himself at odds with the majority of his party's lawmakers on the issue.

Though the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill last year, the GOP-controlled House spiked the measure.