George W. Bush Says Immigration Reform 'Has A Chance To Pass': 4 Things To Know About Bush And Immigration Reform

Former president George W. Bush told ABC News this weekend that he was "out of politics" and declined to weigh in too aggressively on some of the more pressing topics on the US political scene. But Bush did say he thought a comprehensive immigration reform bill "has a chance to pass", adding, "I think it's very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect...It's a very difficult bill to pass because there is a lot of moving parts, and the legislative process can be ugly. But it looks like they're making some progress." Immigration reform had been one of Bush's priorities while in office, but a 2007 bill which would've given a path to citizenship to many of the undocumented never made it to his desk.

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Bush is expected to give a speech this Wednesday which will make the case for comprehensive immigration reform. The speech will take place at his presidential library in Dallas, where he will preside over a ceremony for new US citizens, and a panel discussion titled "What Immigrants Contribute" will reportedly follow.

1. His Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 would have given a path to citizenship to many of the nation's undocumented.

Much like the Senate's 2013 bill, supporters tried to combine increased border security with an offer of legal status and eventual citizenship. An extra $4.4 billion would've gone to border enforcement. It would've doubled the number of Border Patrol agents, added almost 400 miles of fencing along the US-Mexico border and created new employment verification measures in addition to granting legalization in undocumented immigrants and kicking off a new temporary worker program.

RELATED: Will House Republicans Ever Back A Path To Citizenship?

2. Bush made immigration reform a priority as president.

In 2005 he made it a cornerstone of his domestic agenda. But by the time he started pushing the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 - a bill made up of three previously failed immigration reform bills - his approval ratings were already in the tank, and he had little success rallying support among the GOP. On the morning of the Senate vote which killed it, he placed numerous last-minute telephone calls to congressmen. But only 12 of his party's senators stuck with him, compared to the 37 who opposed the bill. 33 Democrats supported the bill, though unlike in 2013 - when reform got the support of every Senate Democrat - 15 voted against the bill too.

3. Conservative talk radio lent a major hand in downing his 2007 reform bill.

After talk radio hosts like Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh made

Trent Lott, the Republican Senate whip in 2007, complained to the Washington Post after the bill was defeated, "I've had my phones jammed for three weeks. Yesterday I had three people answering them continuously all day." Then-senator Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) told the Post that the immigration had "swept into the debate literally hundreds of thousands of people who have never picked up the phone."

Jim DeMint, a South Carolina senator who is now the director of the Heritage Foundation, said when the bill died in the Senate: "The American people won today. They care enough for their country to get mad and to fight for it. Americans made phone calls and sent letters, and convinced the Senate to stop this bill."

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a leading opponent of the bill who has also been at the forefront of efforts to down the 2013 Senate legislation, said that talk radio was "a big factor" in derailing the immigration bill. Sessions added then that supporters of the bill wanted to pass it quickly "before Rush Limbaugh could tell the American people what was in it", according to the New York Times.

4. Bush reportedly won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2004 presidential elections.

His support among Hispanics, though, varied widely depending on location. According to Businessweek, he took much smaller percentages in overwhelmingly Hispanic districts in Philadelphia and Chicago (16 and 12 percent, respectively). But he won 50 percent or more of the vote in several heavily Latino counties in South Texas and averaged 41 percent in counties along the US-Mexico border.