Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump says former Florida Governor Jeb Bush does not understand the issue of border security, adding that he is out of touch with Americans.
“Today, Jeb Bush once again proves that he is out of touch with the American people,” Trump said in a statement issued on Saturday night.
“Just like the simple question asked of Jeb on Iraq — where it took him five days and multiple answers to get right — he doesn’t understand anything about the border or border security,” he said.
“In fact, Jeb believes illegal immigrants who break our laws when they cross our border come ‘out of love,'” Trump added.
During his presidential campaign announcement on June 16, billionaire businessman and reality television star Trump emphasized the need to curtail immigration from the southern border and slammed Mexican immigrants for “bringing crime” to the US.
Bush, the GOP frontrunner whose wife was born in Mexico, said on Saturday that he was personally offended by Trump’s “ugly” remarks.
“I don’t think he represents the Republican Party, and his views are way out of the mainstream of what Republicans think,” Bush said after attending Fourth of July parades in Amherst and Merrimack, New Hampshire.
Trump accused Bush of distorting his remarks about Hispanic immigrants.
“Jeb is only mischaracterizing my statements to inflame,” he said. “As everybody knows, I never said that all Mexicans crossing the border are rapists.”
“I am very proud to be fighting for a strong and secure border,” Trump added.
“This is a very important issue which all the other candidates would have ignored had I not started this important discussion,” he continued.
In spite of criticism from Republicans and companies threatening to cut business ties with Trump, he has defended his controversial comments.
He told Fox News on Friday that the alleged shooting death of a 32-year-old woman by an immigrant in San Francisco was one more example of why America must secure its borders.
“This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it. Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it,” he said.
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