According to a Robert Novak blurb, Bush's aides have (finally?) informed him that the conservative base is fed up with illegal immigration. Shortly thereafter, House members did the same. That resulted in last week's reports, such as "Bush to clear up illegals plan":

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said the president admitted yesterday [6/7/05] that he has not been clear enough on his solution to immigration problems and that he needs to do a better job.

"He admitted he hasn't done a very good job in being clear to the American people where he's coming from, and he's going to try to do better," [Delay said...]

Similar reports in "DeLay says Bush wants to clarify his immigration, border proposals" and "DeLay says Bush agrees with him on immigration". Related press release in "FAIR Congratulates DeLay for Demanding Immigration Enforcement Before Implementing New Guest Worker Programs".

Supposedly Bush will now try to get "immigration reform" in steps rather than as one big bill. And, Bush will concentrate on enforcement and border control before any sort of amnesty or guest worker plan.

Based on past actions and statements from the Bush administration, I believe I have a general idea where they're coming from on this topic, and I think that's deeply at odds with true immigration reform (rather than the kind in quotes). For instance, I doubt whether those large corporations that support low-cost, pliable illegal labor would appreciate real reform. And, I don't think that Bush is going to turn his back on those corporations.

Then, there's something that few people are familiar with but which I still consider shocking. Bush's guest worker program was "envisioned" to be open to a wide variety of employees. Affected workers included "nurses, teachers, high-tech workers, low-skilled workers". The concept could "apply broadly". Surely, a libertarian (or feudal) dream, but an American nightmare. Most odd plans come from the far left or the far right, but the concepts underlying the Bush amnesty plan seemed to come from a long-forgotten century in a far off land. For the full quote from Bush's assistant, see Bush "guest worker" program to be "open to any type of employee". For more, see "Analysis: Bush temp worker plan open-ended".

Then, of course, there's Bush's relationship with Vicente Fox, and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

Given the above, I'd suggest looking very closely at any future immigration proposals from the Bush administration. They might look good at first glance, but in the final analysis they'll probably just be the same old thing.