Everyone Is Noticing Trump's Newest Immigration Comments Mirror The Jeb Bush Plan He Mocked

Media figures promptly began calling out the similarities between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s newest immigration policy suggestions and policies Trump previously criticized Jeb Bush for pushing during the Republican primaries.

During an August 24 town hall with Fox host Sean Hannity, Trump appeared to shift from his previous plan to “deport all undocumented immigrants,” as CNN put it. Trump told Hannity’s town hall that he would not grant undocumented immigrants citizenship, but that he would “work with them” if they “pay back taxes.”

On the August 25 edition of Good Morning America, ABC’s Jon Karl remarked that Trump’s newfound position on immigration “sounds a heck of a lot like what Jeb Bush proposed during the Republican primaries,” which Karl said Trump attacked at the time as “amnesty.”

The core of Trump’s newfound immigration policy bears strong resemblance to Bush’s prior proposals. In August 2015, Bush published a plan that would have required undocumented immigrants to “pass a thorough criminal background check, pay fines, pay taxes, learn English, obtain a provisional work permit and work, [and] not receive federal government assistance” in order to eventually earn “legal status” but not citizenship.

At a Republican primary debate, Trump told moderators that Jeb Bush was “the weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration,” adding, “He is so weak on illegal immigration it’s laughable, and everybody knows it.” Additionally, on August 22, 2015, Trump tweeted:

Other outlets have also noted the similarities between Trump’s newest position and Bush’s policy proposal. While discussing Trump’s most recent stance on immigration, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough remarked, “Jeb Bush, your immigration stand has prevailed in the Republican Party.” NBC News reported that Trump’s new rhetoric is “not too different from Jeb Bush's rhetoric during the 2016 primary season.” Conservative website RedState announced, “That's right folks. Trump has adopted the very position he chastised Jeb Bush for having.” And CNN played a video montage comparing the two positions and noting “how similar Trump sounds” to Bush.