GOP Immigration Plan: George W Bush is Back With New Immigration Plea

Impact

The Republican Party's immigration makeover continued this week with former President George W. Bush hosting and opening a "conference on the benefits of immigration," reported The Washington Times.  

The event, co-sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, sought to continue the rebranding of the GOP as friendly to immigration — following the shellacking suffered by 2012 Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, as well as by the Republican Party al large — during the November 6 election in which Latino and Asian American voters supported Obama and the Democrats over their conservative challengers by huge margins. 

Bush said that "as the U.S. debates immigration policy," he hopes “we do so with a benevolent spirit and keep(ing) in mind the contribution of immigrants.” The former president, who sought to frame his immigration speech around the economy, said one of his institute's focuses is on economic growth and the goal to achieve 4% GDP growth in the United States (with the help of immigrants who come with "new skills and new ideas [to] fill a critical gap in the labor market").

Weight In: Are George W. Bush's immigration pleas genuine?