George Bush calls for a robust border and for BOTH parties to come together

Former President George W. Bush has renewed his call for bipartisan immigration reform – including a way for people who came here illegally to ‘earn’ citizenship through a ‘gradual process.’

Bush made his immigration pitch – where he also called border security a potential area for agreement – as he released a new book that imbues his appeal with a humanizing portraits of immigrants.

During his time in office Bush backed ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ legislation that never made it through the Senate – and continues to push bipartisan efforts to an issue that has become one of the most fiercely debated topics. 

Former President George W. Bush says the border is an area for potential agreement between the two parties. 

Bush, whose portrait subjects include an Afghanistan-born entrepreneur, Czech-born Madeleine Albright, and Medal of Honor winner Army Capt. Florent Groberg – calls the border an ‘opportunity for agreement.’

He makes the case even as critics have hammered President Joe Biden for a surge of unaccompanied minors, and Democratic fury over Donald Trump’s border wall.

‘I have long said that we can be both a lawful and a welcoming nation at the same time,’ Bush writes in a Washington Post op-ed. We need a secure and efficient border, and we should apply all the necessary resources — manpower, physical barriers, advanced technology, streamlined and efficient ports of entry, and a robust legal immigration system — to assure it,’ Bush write.

Bush tried to get ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ through the Senate

A U.S. Border Patrol agent registers immigrants before bussing them to a processing center near the U.S.-Mexico border on April 13, 2021 in La Joya, Texas. A surge of immigrants making the arduous journey from Central America to the United States has challenged U.S. immigration agencies along the southern border

He also floats an increase in legal immigration. ‘Increased legal immigration, focused on employment and skills, is also a choice that both parties should be able to get behind,’ according to Bush. 

He also backs changes to the nation’s asylum system – as asylum claims create a court backlog. Trump, during his crackdown on illegal immigration, complained that would-be migrants would shape their stories to meet asylum criteria. His tenure included a series of actions as part of his ‘zero tolerance’ party that raised the bar for asylum claimants.

‘We also need a modernized asylum system that provides humanitarian support and appropriate legal channels for refugees to pursue their cases in a timely manner,’ writes Bush. 

Bush calls amnesty for the millions of estimated undocumented immigrants living here ‘fundamentally unfair’ to those seeking legal immigration.

‘But undocumented immigrants should be brought out of the shadows through a gradual process in which legal residency and citizenship must be earned, as for anyone else applying for the privilege,’ he writes. 

Bush’s new book is called ‘Out of Many, One,’ and is an effort to ‘humanize’ the immigration debate. He jokes that it hopefully won’t be called ‘One Too Many.’