"Reagan blew it on Illegal immigration, too. His amnesty is the excuse and pattern for the Bush attempt."
Reagan did not have the luxury Bush has (to learn from history). Reagan didn't repeat the mistakes of Kennedy and Johnson (the Presidents 20 years before him).
Reagan had the example of Eisenhower to draw on. Eisenhower had a then severe illegal alien problem. He fixed it. He did not have any truck with any sort of "amnesty."