Condoleezza Rice: 'I don't know when immigrants became the enemy'

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday at Duke University that one of her biggest regrets during her time in the George W. Bush administration was the inability to push through comprehensive immigration reform.

"That immigrant culture that has renewed us ... has been at the core of our strength," Rice said, according to Raleigh, N.C.'s The News & Observer. "I don't know when immigrants became the enemy."

Republicans are increasingly worried about their ability to attract Hispanic voters in the coming election. Hispanic voters are expected to be the fastest growing part of the electorate in 2012, and polls have shown Mitt Romney and generic congressional Republicans significantly trailing President Obama and Democrats among the group.

Rice also told the students that the Bush administration had erred with some of its handing of the Iraq war.

“We didn’t have enough forces,” she said. “I frankly don’t think we had an institution that knew how to secure the peace.”

Rice, now a professor at Stanford University, has dipped her toe back into politics this election cycle, campaigning with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) earlier this year.

---