Protesters heckle Jeb Bush in Houston

As Bush finished his sentence, a group began to chant, “no hope without our vote!” in reference to the notion that a Republican can not become president without winning over Hispanics. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce put out a statement Monday afternoon that was critical of the protesters. “They spoke in Spanish to me and I spoke in Spanish to them”.

But his support for a comprehensive immigration plan that would provide a path to legal status for the the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States has been politically fraught, sharply derided by his foes on the right and frequently cited as one of his greatest obstacles in securing the GOP nomination. “Here’s what I believe: As I’ve been consistently for the DREAM Act kids to get a path to citizenship, I’ve been consistently for it, and I’ll continue to be consistently for it, irrespective of what the political ramifications of that are”. On Monday Bush continued his strategy of taking a more aggressive stance against Trump, pushing back on criticism from his fellow Republican for speaking Spanish to a group of high school students earlier this month.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has once again elevated our nation’s politics by implying that GOP rival Jeb Bush still smokes marijuana, despite the candidate’s insistence that he quit decades ago.

“Bush is – on paper anyway – arguably the strongest Republican candidate in Michigan”. “When he delivers his message in Spanish it’s one thing, and when he delivers his message in English it’s another”.

He said he was for an immigration overhaul, which “apparently is somewhat out of the mainstream now in my party”.

But, he said, “we don’t need to build a wall, we don’t need to deport every person that is in this country”. “While we do not see eye to eye on all issues with any of the presidential hopefuls, those who treat our community with respect deserve the same”.

Mr. Bush also stressed that his “family is bicultural” and that his wife of 42 years, Columba, who was born in Mexico, is “American by choice”.

“We’re in the beginning process, I’m going to be ramping it up”, he said, according to sources in the meetings, and pointed to his campaign manager Danny Diaz and head of Latino engagement, Jose Mallea, who was in the room, as evidence of this focus. And while he said he didn’t “want to create more of the food fight”, he didn’t hesitate to jab at Trump.

“We need a candidate that does this with joy in his heart”.