FAILURE TO GRANT AMNESTY WAS HIS SINGULAR ERROR:

In his remarks, Bush expressed regret that he wasn't able to guide the comprehensive immigration reform package he developed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2007 through the legislative process. But he also took the opportunity to urge the nation's leaders to "dial down the rhetoric, put politics aside and modernize our immigration law soon."

He further gave an inspiring and compelling explanation of why the nation should continue to welcome immigrants. Here it is:

"The United States is in many ways the most successful of nations. Historically, where immigration is concerned, we're also the most welcoming of nations. And these two facts are related.

"So many of us can draw a line back to a man or woman who had the idea that life could be better, and that hope led them here.

"Generations of new arrivals left their mark on our national character, in traits that friends abroad still recognize as distinctly American -- our optimism, our independence and openness to the new, our willingness to strive and to risk, our sense of life as an adventure dignified by personal freedom and personality responsibility.

"Such qualities don't come out of nowhere. A spirit of self-reliance runs deep in our immigrant heritage, along with the humility and kindness to look at someone less fortunate and see yourself. Across the world, good men and women still dream of starting life anew in America -- people who bring energy and talent and faith in the future.

"Often, they bring a special love of freedom because they have seen how life works without it.

"The great yearning of so many to live in our country presents a significant challenge. America's elected representatives have a duty to regulate who comes in, and when. In meeting this responsibility, it helps to remember that America's immigrant history made us who we are.

"Amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength."

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