MCALLEN, Texas — In this predominantly Hispanic border town, Jeb Bush dismissed Donald Trump’s proposal of building a wall to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants through Mexico and called for “a comprehensive” border security strategy — and he did it mostly in Spanish.

“Mr. Trump’s plans are not grounded in conservative principles,” Bush said during an appearance at a Mexican restaurant Monday afternoon.

“His proposal is unrealistic. It would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It will violate peoples civil liberties. It will create friction with our third-largest trading partner that’s not necessary, and I think he’s wrong about this. If he’s serious about this, he might want to read my book, “Immigration Wars,” which I published four years ago.”

The visit to this south Texas border town, an arid patch of used car lots and agricultural warehouses just north of the Rio Grande where 90 percent of the population speaks Spanish, comes as Bush continues to feud publicly over immigration issues with Trump, who currently leads all comers in the GOP nomination fight.

The ongoing feud highlights a clear divide in the battle to be the Republican standard-bearer in 2016, separating many conservatives drawn to Trump’s more strident rhetoric and others who believe that only a candidate like Bush, offering a softer, more inclusive tone, is capable of winning the general election in a country where the Latino population continues to grow.

“He’s OK in my book because he got a Mexican wife,” said Johnny Canales, a Hispanic television performer from Corpus Christi who came to see Bush Monday. “I helped Bill Clinton get elected years ago, but I could decide to support Bush. Donald Trump has really ticked off the Hispanics, but I think Jeb is better.”

While many who came out to greet Bush wore Jeb! stickers and cheered when he spoke in Spanish, several uncommitted voters in the audience, however distasteful they may find Trump’s nativist rhetoric, said they wanted a candidate capable of delivering the kinds of big changes he’s promising.

“What’s happening here on the border is really bad; it’s becoming a Third World country, almost,” said Aurora Blanco, a beautician from McAllen who is a Republican and open to supporting Bush. “The border — they haven’t fixed it and we need somebody to start again with new fresh policies.”

Bush, who has seen his poll numbers dip in the past month, has drawn criticism from two different directions on the issue of illegal immigration — from Trump, who has blasted him for not taking the problem seriously enough, and from those on the left, offended by his use of Trumpian language last week.

Last Wednesday, just as Bush started to intensify his criticism of the New York City businessman for not being a true conservative, the former Florida governor was put on the defensive over his use of the term “anchor babies” in a radio interview.

Bush, who has called for a more inclusive tone when talking about immigration policy and formerly chaired an organization that urged GOP lawmakers not to use inflammatory rhetoric when discussing the topic, told reporters that he didn’t think the term was offensive.

Trump, who needled Bush Thursday for using the term with a tweet urging him, “Stay true to yourself!,” again took aim at him Monday morning when asked about Bush’s trip to McAllen, reminding viewers about the Florida governor’s statement last year that, for undocumented immigrants, breaking the law in search of a better life for their children is “an act of love.”

“Well, I think it’s great that he’s going to the border, because I think he’ll now find out that it is not an act of love,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox News Channel. “I was down on the border. It’s rough, tough stuff. This is not love, this is other things going on. And I think he’ll probably be able to figure that out, maybe.”

Bush, who has asserted his own familiarity with border issues based on two terms as Florida’s governor, didn’t tour the border itself. He spent the morning meeting with local officials to talk about border security and immigration issues and attended a fundraiser before arriving at Palengue Grill, a Mexican restaurant where he spoke to a room of 100 or so people, most of whom were Democrats but said they were willing to give Bush a look.

Bush declined to comment on Trump’s statement and chided the media for allowing Democrats to take his statement “out of context,” noting that he has been “immersed in the immigrant experience” in his upbringing in Texas, his 41-year marriage to a Mexican woman and their bilingual children. 

“This is ludicrous for the Clinton campaign and others to suggest that somehow I was using a derogatory term,” he said, before offering a new explanation of what he was trying to say last week in talking about “anchor babies.”

“What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts — frankly, it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country, having children in that organized efforts, taking advantage of a noble concept, which is birthright citizenship.

“I support the 14th Amendment,” he continued. “Nothing about what I’ve said should be viewed as derogatory toward immigrants at all.

“I think we need to take a step back and chill out a little bit as it relates to the political correctness that somehow you have to be scolded every time you say something. It’s not fair to be taken out of context.”

Democrats, however, blasted Bush again for “tripling down” on the anchor babies line, Jeb’s apparent effort to talk about birth tourism, a recent trend that has seen families, many of them Chinese, willing to pay large sums to have their children born in the United States.

“This latest comment from Bush shows just how out of touch he is,” said the DNC’s director of Asian American and Pacific Islander Engagement, K.J. Bagchi. “The only thing worse than Jeb Bush’s words about immigrant families may be his policies towards them.”

Bush, whose super PAC spent $3,500 to fly a banner over the Mobile, Alabama football stadium where Trump spoke Friday night, has shown a sudden eagerness to spar with the bombastic real estate developer and to contrast his record of conservative governance with Trump’s past support for Democrats.

On Monday, he complained that Trump’s policy positions — or the lack thereof — have yet to be subjected to the same scrutiny as his own.

“He’s a serious candidate,” Bush said. “He ought to be held to what serious candidates ought to be held to; he needs to be held to account for his views.”