Hannity Omits Jeb Bush's Reversal On Support For Pathway To Citizenship

Fox's Sean Hannity hosted former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick to hype their new book on immigration reform -- but Hannity never acknowledged that the book marked a major reversal of Bush's stance on a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

In their new book, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, Bush and Bolick argue for an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws that does not include a pathway to citizenship for current undocumented immigrants. As The Huffington Post noted, Bush and Bolick wrote, “It is absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences -- in this case, that those who violated the law can remain but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship.”

But less than a year ago, Bush did advocate for a pathway to citizenship. As Talking Points Memo explained (emphasis original):

[Bush] told Charlie Rose in a June 2012 interview that he backed a path to citizenship, but would tolerate a lesser legal status for undocumented immigrants if necessary.

“You have to deal with this issue. You can't ignore it,” Bush said at the time. “And so, either a path to citizenship, which I would support and that does put me probably out of the mainstream of most conservatives; Or a path to legalization, a path to residency of some kind, which now hopefully will become -- I would accept that in a heartbeat as well if that's the path to get us to where we need to be which is on a positive basis using immigration to create sustained growth.”

Bush's co-author, Goldwater Institute director Clint Bolick, is also on the record backing a path to citizenship, writing in 2007 that such a policy was a critical prerequisite to bringing Latino voters to the GOP.

Hannity failed to acknowledge Bush's reversal -- even as he asked the co-authors about their proposal for a pathway to legalization, but not citizenship, for undocumented immigrants.

Hannity said, “One of the things I was surprised about: You're not saying citizenship for those that are here illegally.” Bush answered, in part: “I think the issue is, it should be easier to come to our country legally than illegally, and there should be a different consequence, or we're going to have another magnet for illegal immigration.” Bush later said that “in order to get comprehensive reform, in order to persuade many conservatives that are concerned about the lack of rule of law, this is a proposal that might find support.”

Bush also told Hannity that they wrote the book during the summer of 2012 -- the same time period, according to TPM, in which Bush expressed his support for a path to citizenship to Charlie Rose.