How Many Illegal Aliens Would Jeb Bush Amnesty?

By Ronald W. Mortensen on April 10, 2014

Like Senator Marco Rubio, Governor Chris Christie, Senator Chuck Schumer, and other amnesty advocates, Jeb Bush seems to believe that if you don't acknowledge that the vast majority of illegal aliens commit multiple, job-related felonies then the felonies don't exist.

And like the other amnesty advocates, he appears to believe that if he throws enough gorilla dust in the air that he will be able to put one over on the American people.

So, as has been widely reported, Bush said the following:

I'm going to say this and it will be on tape, and so be it. The way I look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn't come legally, they come to our country because their family's dad who loves their children was worried that their children didn't have food on the table, and they wanted to make sure their family was intact. And they crossed the border because they had no other means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's kind of – it's a – it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that's a different kind of crime that should be, there should be a price paid, but it shouldn't be – it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.

However, the media failed to give equal play to Bush's earlier remarks where he said that the Senate immigration bill was a good effort and that,

40 percent of illegal immigrants come with legal visas and they overstay their bounds. A great country ought to know where those folks are and politely ask them to leave...So, now you cut out six million people and if you did that as it occurs it would restore people's confidence.

So, just exactly how many illegal aliens would Bush grant amnesty to?

To begin with, Bush appears to believe that there are 15 million illegal aliens in the U.S. since he said that 40 percent of total illegal immigrants had overstayed their visas and that number, according to him is six million (15 million times 40 percent). Thus, assuming Bush knew what he was saying, his estimate of illegal aliens present in the U.S. is 36 percent higher than the 11 million number that is routinely used.

So, would Bush really exclude from an amnesty the 6 million foreign nationals who have already overstayed their visas? If so, that would leave 9 million illegal aliens eligible for the Bush amnesty.

However, this is not the final number, since Bush seems to indicate that his amnesty plan would only extend to dads who illegally crossed the border out of an "act of love" in order to provide for their families. (Apparently, moms don't count under the Bush doctrine.)

So does this mean that Bush would exclude anyone who is not a dad and who is not providing for his family? If so, that would seem to exclude all the single men and women along with mothers who illegally crossed the border. Assuming non-dads would account for half of the 9 million remaining illegal aliens, then Bush would grant amnesty to a total of 4.5 million people.

However, how many of those 4.5 million have committed at least one felony? Well, according to the actuary of the Social Security Administration, 75 percent of illegal aliens have obtained and used fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers to get jobs and to pay payroll taxes. So, in order to get jobs, 75 percent of dads and their family members commit still more acts of love (felonies) – forgery, Social Security fraud, perjury on I-9 forms, and even identity theft if they use a genuine Social Security number that belongs to someone else.

So, we reduce the 4.5 million by 75 percent and come up with 1.125 million people who haven't committed a felony and who appear to be eligible for the Bush amnesty.

So, does Bush really mean that only 1.125 million illegal aliens would be eligible for a path to citizenship, or is he just throwing a bunch of gorilla dust into the air in order to camouflage his true goal – the legalization of 15 million illegal aliens including the 75 percent (11 million) who have committed job-related felonies?

I'd put my money on the full 15 million.