The Texan has for years emphasized the immigrant community in his home state and has often praised America’s immigrant history while advocating for immigration policies. During his second term as president, Bush filed an immigration bill that aimed to create a path to citizenship for some of the 12 million undocumented immigrants and tried to tighten border security, but the bill eventually stalled in the Senate in 2007.
He acknowledged on Sunday that one of the biggest disappointments of his presidency is his failure to implement meaningful reform in this area. Bush also said he is currently lobbying the Republican Party to take action to create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if they can pass a background check and refund taxes, but he did not seem hopeful that his party would do it. would agree.
“I am now,” he told O’Donnell when she asked if he would lobby for his party if President Joe Biden made a proposal with those caveats. “Whether my own party listens to me or not is another question.”
The 43rd president criticized Congress’s lack of action on immigration, noting that “there have been many executive orders, but that just means that Congress is not doing its job.”
Speaking of his upcoming book of immigrant paintings, “Out of Many, One,” the former president said the policy is not changing, but added that he is a “soft voice” among people trying to push for reform.
“It is hopefully part of creating a better understanding of the role of immigrants in our society,” Bush said. “Mine is just a little voice in, I hope, a chorus of people saying, ‘Let’s see if we can’t fix the problem.’ ”