Jeb Bush: Trump's Offensive, Vulgar Comments on Immigration Prevent Progress

Donald Trump's controversial comments on undocumented immigrants "offended millions of people," former Florida governor Jeb Bush said of his fellow Republican presidential candidate in a Spanish-language interview Monday.

Trump characterized many undocumented immigrants from Mexico as rapists and drug dealers in comments two weeks ago, dominating much of the presidential news cycle since.

Bush, a fluent Spanish speaker, said he sought to counter Trump's negativity on immigration with his own platform, he said in a wide-ranging interview with Jose Diaz-Balart, of MSNBC and Telemundo.

"You know I was hurt hearing somebody speaking in such a vulgar fashion," the Florida governor said in remarks translated from Spanish. "This makes the solving of this problem (of illegal immigration) much more difficult. When we have politicians talking like that, we cannot progress."

Bush added he believed the solution should be to make legal immigration easier. He pointed to his own outlook on the issue to show how far apart he is from Trump.

"I believe it's important that I as a candidate offer a more optimistic version than Trump's negativeness and other candidates," he said.

Bush touted his firm connection to Hispanic culture. He is married to a Latina woman and made strong comments on the recent opening of Cuba's embassy and the Castro brothers.

"I believe that the policy should be that we always want freedom in Cuba, we want democracy to change the relationship, but based on facts," he explained. "In this case, there aren't even promises that (Obama's) received to do this. And dictators are not going to leave quietly at night, they don't leave. We must be vigilant and this president does not recognize that."

Bush addressed hot-button comments made by another candidate, Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, as well as Trump's.

Huckabee on Monday compared President Barack Obama's deal with Iran to the Holocaust, saying it would cause Israelis to be marched "straight to the oven door."

"In the case of Mike Huckabee, who is my friend, those words– that use of those type of words doesn't help," Bush said. "We must have a more civil policy in this country."

To read Bush's whole interview in Spanish, visit Telemundo.

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