Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says America needs to be more welcoming to its legal immigrants.
In an op-ed written for Saturday's Washington Post, Bush and Harvard University professor Robert D. Putnam say the Fourth of July holiday is a time when "Americans should reflect on the lessons of our shared immigrant past. We must recall that the challenges facing our nation today were felt as far back as the Founders' time. Immigrant assimilation has always been slow and contentious, with progress measured not in years but in decades. Yet there are steps communities and government should take to form a more cohesive, successful union."
Bush and Putnam make the case that modern-day America is less welcoming to legal immigrants than in the past, pointing out historical efforts to teach English to immigrants at no cost.
"Why is this important? A legal immigration system is the not-so-secret edge in a competitive, interconnected world economy," they write.
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