WASHINGTON — The immigration-reform plan working its way through Congress “has a chance to pass,” former President George W. Bush said.

“It’s very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect, and have confidence in our capacity to assimilate people,” Bush said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that aired Sunday. “It’s a very difficult bill to pass because there is a lot of moving parts, and the legislative process can be ugly. But it looks like they’re making progress.”

He added, “Good policy yields good politics, as far as I’m concerned.”

The Senate last month passed immigration overhaul legislation on a 68-32 vote. The plan would create a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

House Republicans, who make up the majority in that chamber, are expected to meet Wednesday in Washington to discuss the topic after a one-week July Fourth holiday recess. Many of them oppose the Senate’s citizenship provisions.

The Senate’s border-control measure “is not a responsible plan,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Without a proposal that can attract bipartisan support, immigration-reform legislation will stall and instead become an issue in the 2014 congressional elections, he said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program.

“My concern is that the political backdrop is that the White House would like to see this fail” for its own political gain, he said.