Reply #10: Bush made immigration an issue to make sure his successor

[Inland]

doesn't eliminate a huge pool of cheap labor that doesn't vote. He CHOSE this to be the issue, because in 2008 he will not be able to provide his big business constituency with de facto open borders simply by refusing to enforce the law. He needs to put something on the books.

Giveaways to big business and the rich that will tie the hands of his successors is key. Tax cuts, immigration, free mineral extraction from federal lands...you can't take those things back, at least not easily.