A lot has been said recently of Jeb Bush’s “compassionate” conservatism with regard to unauthorized migrants.  Rejecting the idea that the unauthorized are felons,* Bush explains that immigrants who come to the US “illegally” do so as an “act of love.” He explains,

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 families — the dad who loved 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 an act of love.

Well, kudos to Bush for remembering that unauthorized migrants are human beings too.  No, seriously: I mean it.  It’s not like many Republican politicos can claim the moral high ground here, what with ardent nativists like Steve King calling for the immediate and unconditional removal of everyone with brownish skin.  Ok – that last bit may be a slight exaggeration, but I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised.

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