Immigration hecklers shout down Jeb Bush’s speech to Hispanic business group

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush pushed back against more than a dozen protesters who repeatedly heckled him with chants of “No hope without our vote” as he tried to address a national Hispanic business group.

The former Florida governor was forced to halt his speech before the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Houston on Monday to remind those shouting that he supports a pathway to citizenship for children of people in the US illegally, a group often called “DREAMers.”

They take their name from the acronym for legislation that lays out a process toward citizenship for immigrant children who were brought into the country illegally and grew up in the US.

But like other Republican presidential hopefuls, Bush wants to secure the border with Mexico before dealing with millions of people here illegally.

Mary Moreno, communications director of the Texas Organizing Project, which planned Monday’s protest, said her group wanted to call attention to “the hostile atmosphere being created by the GOP field of presidential candidates.”

The demonstrators held large signs, with one asking “Who is the real Jeb Bush?” Another read “One of us?” and was paired alongside one that read “Or one of them?” The latter featured a photo of Bush with Republican front-runner Donald Trump at last Wednesday’s presidential candidates’ debate in California.