House, Senate Retool Mexican Border Protection Measure

Border safety was at the forefront of national legislation last week,  as the U.S. Senate approved the construction of at least 350 miles of new triple-layered fencing across the Mexican border. The fence is designed to crack down on illegal immigration and smuggling across the permeable and controversial boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. The proposal was approved by 83 of the 100 senators, and is less extensive than the 700-mile fence proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives. But it puts both chambers of Congress in support of building expanded barriers across the southwestern border of the nation, at the cost of $1 billion.

The Mexican government denounced the House proposal, but didn't issue an immediate reaction to the Senate proposal, which was approved as an amendment to an existing, comprehensive immigration bill. Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, lauded the Department of Homeland Security's plan to construct fences in border areas frequently used by smugglers and illegal immigrants.

The Homeland Security agency will determine the locations, but Sessions (who sponsored the amendment) indicated that much of the fence will be built in Arizona and California. It will be linked to an existing border fence near San Diego (pictured), which begins at  San Ysidro on the Pacific Coast and extends 20 miles inland.

The plan also calls for 500 miles of additional vehicle barriers. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff opposes barriers along the full length of the border, but supports renewed and expanded barriers in some of the most vulnerable areas. The 700-mile fence that the House included in its enorcement-oriented immigration bill would have cost $2.2 billion.

Supporters describe the Senate plan as a modest alternative to the House one, without nearly as much adverse symbolic impact. But it is not without its detractors. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democract and one of the Senate's leading architects of immigration legislation, lambasted the assertion by Sessions that barriers be confined to strategic locations.

"Let's be serious. That's almost a quarter of the whole southern border stretching from California to the Gulf of Mexico," said Kennedy, contending that the fence could cost as much as $4 billion.

Kennedy's Bay State senatorial counterpart, John Kerry, offered a dubious show of support -- and criticism -- of the fence. While he joined most of his Democratic colleagues in voting to build the fence, he then said that after the wall is built, it should be taken down as soon as possible.

President Bush has urged Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration plan and dispatched political adviser Karl Rove to Capitol Hill on Wednesday in an attempt to shore up House support. In spite of the President's push, a number of House conservatives stand opposed to the Senate bill.

Meanwhile, Senators voted 66-33 to preserve a key component of the bill that would grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. However, the Senate continued to refine the bill in an effort to pick up votes from members who are still -- pardon the poor choice of  words -- on the fence.

Senators unanimously voted to adopt an amendment co-sponsored by a pair of Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona. The piece of legislation prohibits immigrants convicted of either a felony or three misdemeanors from being eligible for green cards -- the ticket to a legal, permanent status for non-Americans.

The Senate also accepted a Democratic amendment aimed at preventing the proposed temporary guest-worker program from undercutting wages paid to U.S. workers. Critics of the guest-worker program also have reworked the impending measure to reduce the total number of  immigrants admitted under the program every year year to 200,000 --  down from 325,000.