Santorum stresses contrast with Bush on immigration

More than a dozen potential Republican candidates, including former senator Rick Santorum (above), are contemplating White House bids in 2016 in what’s shaping up as a crowded and diverse field. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Sunday resisted Jeb Bush’s pro-immigration stance, doubling down on his long-held position that unskilled immigrant workers are taking jobs from Americans.

“There are fewer Americans working today who were born in America than there were 15 years ago. All of the net new jobs created are going to people who were not born here, because they’re willing to work for lower wages,” Santorum said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, echoing comments he made at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Saturday.

Santorum was specifically responding to recent comments by the former Florida governor that stressed the value of immigrant workers to the U.S. economy. Santorum’s remarks emphasized the contrast that exists on immigration policy between himself and Bush, both of whom are considering White House runs.

“Immigrants are an engine of economic vitality,” Bush said Friday during a speech in San Francisco. “We need to find a way, a path to legalized status for those who have come here and languished in the shadows.”

Santorum questioned Bush’s assessment, launching into a critique of existing immigration laws, which he says allow too many unskilled workers into the country.

“Immigration can be [an “engine of economic vitality”] if immigration is done the right way,” Santorum said. “I would just suggest that the reason you’re seeing median income dropping, the reason you’re seeing wages stagnating, is because we have record levels of legal immigration.”

Santorum did not specifically respond to Bush’s call for a path to legal status for millions of undocumented workers.

Bush began laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign in December and is engaged in an ambitious fundraising effort. His position on immigration reform is strikingly different from that of the main pack of potential GOP presidential candidates.

Santorum, who ran for the Republican nomination in 2012, has also indicated he will run. On Saturday, he attended the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines.

During the CNN interview, Santorum also touted his foreign policy chops, citing his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In another instance, he conceded that the climate is growing warmer but resisted the idea that it is caused by human activity.

“The question is: Is man having a significant impact on that?” Santorum said. “Is there anything the United States can do about it? Clearly, no.”