Policy

Jeb Bush Praises Immigrants as Economic Boon

Says they create more businesses and are more "fertile"

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Speaking to religious conservatives Friday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said that welcoming immigrants to the United States will be an economic boon because they are hard-working, family-oriented and "more fertile."

"Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans," Bush said in remarks to the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington D.C. "Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population. Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity."

Bush, who is mulling a 2016 bid, also argued that there are too few young people paying into a system to support a larger number of older Americans because native-born fertility rates are going down.