George W. Bush Hails Immigration Reform Progress

Former President George W. Bush hailed the recent progress made on immigration reform, saying it appears to have a "chance to pass."

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"I think it's very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect, and have confidence in our capacity to assimilate people," Bush said in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "It's a very difficult bill to pass because there's a lot of moving parts. And the legislative process -- can be ugly. But it looks like they're making some progress."

The Senate passed an immigration bill late last month, but reform efforts face an uncertain future in the House of Representatives. Bush tried unsuccessfully to overhaul the immigration system when he was in office.

"Sometimes it takes, takes time for some of these complex issues to evolve," Bush said. "And it looks like immigration, you know, has a chance to pass."

Asked whether the Republican Party would be "hurt" if blocks immigration reform, Bush said: "The reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster a Republican Party, it's to fix a system that's broken. Good policy yields good politics as far as I'm concerned."

Bush is expected to tout immigration reform during a citizenship ceremony in Dallas this week.

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