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Bush Inspired by His Mexican Housekeeper

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President Bush has always been drawn to stories of Latino immigrants who came up by their bootstraps, and he has one inspiring example close to home, report Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe, White House Correspondent Holly Bailey and Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas in Newsweek's May 29 issue (on newsstands Monday, May 22).

Mexican-born citizen Maria Galvan, 53, has worked for Bush, looked after his daughters, befriended his wife and won the affection of the first family for her loyalty, decency and hard work. As governor of Texas, Bush encouraged his housekeeper to become a U.S. citizen.

Galvan got a job at the Texas governor's mansion just as Bush moved in with his family in 1995. (The White House last week refused to comment on Galvan, except to say that she is a U.S. citizen; White House aides were silent on how she entered the country and what her legal status was at the time.)

The Bushes liked Galvan so much that they brought her to Washington, D.C., in 2001. She lives in the White House, travels with the first family and looks after their beloved dogs. She is said by White House insiders, who refuse to be identified discussing first family matters, to be "part of the family," which is unusual for staff in the formal, institutionalized Executive Mansion.

Bush recognized early on that inspiring Latino family stories could be a boon to the Republican Party. "He appreciates how close Latino families are with each other," says Israel Hernandez, an early campaign aide whom Bush hired after hearing his family story. "For a long time, he's talked about how these are the qualities he thinks the party represents. He has always talked about immigration in a very compassionate way."

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But the president's willingness to help illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship sets him apart from many vocal conservatives in the Republican Party and the divide could paralyze the effort to bring much-needed reform to the nation's immigration laws.

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