MIDLAND, Texas — Cecilia Ochoa Levine was a Mexican trying to make it in America. But when she hit upon a promising business opportunity, to make knapsacks south of the border to sell in the United States, she could not get the trade permits she needed.
And so Levine asked for help from a longtime friend in Texas, where she had been a legal resident for many years.
The friend was George W. Bush.
Within a week, Levine was on a plane to Washington for a meeting with trade officials. And soon after, she had the papers to expand her business, creating dozens of jobs at plants in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Not everyone would have been willing to use his influence to help a Mexican citizen start a company, particularly one creating jobs in Mexico as well as in the U.S. But Bush's actions of 21 years ago help explain why today, as president, he is striking an unusually nuanced tone on the emotional question of immigration policy -- a stance that has placed him at odds with the conservative Republicans who have long formed the base of his political support.
"Here was this single mother, Mexican, no money, starting a tiny little business," recalled Levine. She phoned Bush because his father was then vice president and "he was willing to use his connections in Washington to help me out. He understood it would mean jobs for poor people."
Long before the immigration fight that is rattling the nation, Bush developed a picture of immigration from his life in Midland, where he knew Levine and other Mexican immigrants personally and came to see both sides of the border as part of the same universe.
A three-hour drive from Mexico, Midland did not have the feel of such border cities as El Paso, but it saw a wave of Mexican immigration long before many other communities across the South and the West. It is where Bush spent many of his childhood years and where he later returned to start an oil exploration business.
What Bush learned in Midland shaped his ability to appeal to Latino voters and foreshadowed what could be one of his most important legacies: helping the Republican Party compete for the nation's fast-growing political constituency.
And it is having an impact now as Congress debates an overhaul of immigration law.
Conservatives are calling for tough enforcement measures to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and to penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants. Some are even calling for a massive fence to separate the two countries.
