Former President George W. Bush weighed back into the nation’s volatile immigration debate on Tuesday by calling on policymakers in Washington to revamp the law “with a benevolent spirit” that recognizes the contribution of those who move here from other countries.

Mr. Bush has remained largely out of the policy arena since leaving the White House four years ago, but immigration has long been one of his passions and he spent much of his presidency trying to make it easier for those in the United States illegally to come out of the shadows and earn legal status.

In speaking out on Tuesday, Mr. Bush was pushing his party again at a time when some other Republicans are beginning to come around to his point of view. Latinos represented 10 percent of the electorate for the first time in last month’s election and overwhelmingly supported Democrats, leading some conservatives to re-evaluate the party’s stance to avoid permanently losing an increasingly powerful constituency.

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