Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich signed a letter in 2004 praising President Bush’s plan for comprehensive immigration reform — which gave illegal immigrants a path to citizenship — according to Rep.Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who released the Gingrich letter today.

“President Bush has proposed a new legal path to work in the U.S. through a temporary worker program that will match willing workers with willing employers,” Gingrich wrote, along with 14 other co-authors. They added that “the president has shown courage by calling on Congress to place reality over rhetoric and recognize that those already working here outside the law are unlikely to leave.”