George W.Bush has always favored liberal reform of America's immigration policy. Bush wants a liberal guest worker program and a path to citizenship. Over the last 5-1/2 years Bush has done practically nothing to secure our borders, while taking NO actions to enforce employer sanctions. Even after 9-11, Bush did nothing. Bush`s final objective is amnesty for all illegals. Bottomline. Cheap labor and pandering for possible Hispanic votes is what has driven Bush`s immigration policy.
At the start of his campaign for president in 1979, then Candidate Reagan proposed a new law that would create a totally open boarder with both MEXICO and CANADA. He called it the North American Accord plan. Reagan proposed that citizens of all three nations could cross the borders at will for any normal purpose including business purposes and taking jobs.
Under the 1979 Reagan plan any Mexican citizen could cross the United States border with only a birth certificate. They could work and stay in the USA for as long as they wished. Under the Reagan accord the Mexican border was to be free and open. There could be no illegal Mexican immigration. The fact that the person wanting to immigrate was Mexican made the immigration legal.
Of course Reagan never got what he wanted in that regard. The 1986 bill that Reagan signed and approved gave illegal Mexican immigrants amnesty. Amnesty was as close as Reagan go his immigration desires. The north american free trade agreement was just a portion of the propsed North American Accord.
Reagan made the case many times that a totally open border with Mexico would bring prosperity to both nations.
Compared to Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush is hard liner on immigration.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Immigration.htm