In an interview with Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Jeb Bush spoke out about his position on immigration reform, saying he believes some in the GOP base "can be persuaded" on the subject.

In the growing field of official and prospective Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential elections, Jeb Bush currently stands out the most for his views on immigration reform, which could be described as closer to Hilary Clinton's position than many of his GOP rivals. As we previously reported, Bush believes in a path to "earned legal status" for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

Now, in a Fox News interview airing Monday night, Bush defended his position, playing up his differences with the "no amnesty" views of the Republican base and other presidential hopefuls as a political necessity -- and as evidence of his leadership.

(Watch the clip below)

"There's got to be a point where we fix this system so that legal immigration is easier than illegal immigration," stated Bush in a preview clip of the full interview released by Fox News on Sunday. "And show some respect for people."

Echoing statements he made earlier this year about allowing undocumented immigrants to "come out of the shadows," Bush posed a hypothetical to Kelly and hinted he believes the right wing of his party has gone "over the line" in their strict position on immigration reform.

"A kid that might have been here 10 years," said Bush, "that might have been valedictorian of their high school? To say, 'No, no, no. You're not allowed to go to college,' I just think there's a point past which we're over the line."

Rival GOP presidential candidates like Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Scott Walker have adopted more conservative views as they campaign early before the 2016 Republican Primaries -- where likely voters traditionally tend to be from the more conservative core of the party.

In the interview, Bush indirectly took a shot at those who hope to gain an advantage from playing to the party's base on immigration.

"Do you want people to just bend with the wind, to mirror people's sentiment, whoever's in front of you?" Bush rhetorically asked. "'Oh yes, I used to be for that, but now I'm for this.' Is that the way we want to elect presidents?"

When Kelly suggested Bush's immigration stance would be a "deal breaker" with the core of Republican voters, he responded, "I don't know that. I've been traveling over the last three months, and I get a sense that a lot of people can be persuaded, to be honest with you."


And Bush isn't alone in the Republican establishment in his belief that including a pathway to citizenship is the only practical political choice for a Republican candidate for the 2016 Presidential race to win the office.

Last week, while announcing he was "98.6 percent" certain he'd run for the Republican nomination, Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke out about the necessity of seriously addressing immigration reform for a Republican candidate to get elected nationally.

"We've gone from 44 percent of the Hispanic vote," in the 2004 presidential election "to 27 percent" in Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential bid, said Graham. "You'll never convince me it's not because of the immigration debate."

Without Hispanic voters, Graham straightforwardly stated, "We'll lose."