Senate Toughens Border Stand, Approves Miles of New Fence

WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure Wednesday to build at least 370 miles of double- and triple-layered fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, moving its immigration bill closer to the enforcement-focused approach favored by conservatives.

The provision would also replace and extend fencing along parts of the border in Arizona where illegal crossings have surged to the nation’s highest levels.

Should the illegal entries increase in other places, the measure authorizes fence construction in “areas that are most used by smugglers.” That could include California and Texas, where fences already exist.

The measure also calls for 500 miles of vehicle barriers where needed along the border.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the provision’s sponsor, said building the fencing would send “a signal to the world that our border is not open, it is closed.”

He added: “Good fences make good neighbors; fences don’t make bad neighbors.”

Some senators questioned the cost, an estimated $1 billion, and the implications of Sessions’ measure. It was added as an amendment to the immigration bill the Senate has been debating for more than a month.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) warned that the proposal would be “a down payment for a fence of 2,000 miles,” the length of the U.S.-Mexico border. “That would be the end result.”

He also expressed concern that the fencing would sour relations with Mexico.

The amendment passed, 83 to 16. California’s two Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, supported it.

The vote came before President Bush travels today to Arizona to promote his plan to use 6,000 National Guard troops to help Border Patrol agents stem illegal immigration.

The fence amendment was one of several added to the Senate legislation Wednesday that could improve the chances that Congress might reach agreement on a bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration policy and send it to Bush for his signature.

The president, in a nationally televised speech Monday, put the prestige of his office behind the rewriting of immigration policy that the Senate is pursuing. Along with border security measures, the Senate bill contains provisions for most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and a guest worker program, proposals Bush has endorsed.

But Republicans who control the House have said they are reluctant to back a measure that goes beyond toughening border security. A core of the GOP House members is adamantly opposed to any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, calling such plans amnesty for lawbreakers.

Bush and others dispute that categorization, noting that the Senate legislation includes financial penalties for illegal immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship.

But the difficulty of persuading the House to support the broader bill was made clear Wednesday in comments Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) made to the Associated Press.

“Regardless of what the president says, what he is proposing is amnesty,” said Sensenbrenner, who as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee would lead the chamber’s negotiators in any attempt to draft a compromise bill.

Another amendment added to the Senate bill that might appeal to conservatives would decrease by an estimated 500,000 the number of illegal immigrants who could pursue citizenship.

The citizenship provision would not apply to illegal immigrants who had been convicted of felonies or numerous misdemeanors or who had skipped hearings on their deportation.

A third amendment adopted Wednesday would tighten restrictions in the bill’s temporary worker program. It would require the Department of Labor to certify that there was not a U.S. worker who was able, willing, qualified and available to fill the job that was offered to a foreign worker. It passed narrowly, 50 to 48, in a vote that split largely down party lines.

Even as the changes gave the bill a more conservative slant, the Senate stood by the bipartisan approach to immigration reform by easily defeating an amendment to delete the measure’s legalization provisions.

As the Senate debate proceeded, immigrant advocates, their opponents and White House officials descended on Capitol Hill to try to make their cases.

Los Angeles radio personality Renan “El Cucuy” Almendarez Coello strolled the Senate halls, telling lawmakers about the campaign to register 1 million new Latino voters before the November elections.

His message was unmistakable -- politicians seen as unsympathetic to Latinos could expect to pay a political price.

But in a sign of the complexity of the immigration issue, members of a new national Latino coalition held a news conference on Capitol Hill to announce their opposition to legalization proposals. They received a warm welcome from House members who opposed any bill that went beyond border enforcement.

Karl Rove, senior White House political advisor, met privately on Capitol Hill with several House Republicans to emphasize Bush’s views. But Rove’s efforts appeared to make little headway.

“He left with his hat in his hand,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) said.

An immigration bill the House passed in December includes provisions to build a 700-mile fence along the border, require employers to verify with the government the residency status of their workers and make being undocumented in the U.S. a felony. The latter measure helped spark protest marches this year in several cities, including Los Angeles; House leaders have indicated they would be willing to drop it during talks with the Senate on a final bill.

An estimated 80 to 100 miles of fencing stretches across the Southwest border, including a barrier in San Diego and double- and triple-layered chain-link fences, crowned with barbed wire, that separate El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The El Paso fence is augmented by floodlights. In the Senate and House bills, border security would be bolstered by more lights, cameras, ground sensors, aerial surveillance and other technology that lawmakers described as virtual fencing. These would be used largely in the gaps between fences.

The House bill would build fencing in high-traffic corridors and envisions a largely continuous fence stretching 392 miles from Calexico, Calif., to Douglas, Ariz. A second portion would extend 305 miles through Texas from Laredo to Brownsville.

Despite the margin by which the fence amendment passed, debate leading up to the vote was fiery. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) objected to the 370-mile length and questioned proponents’ claims about the effectiveness of fencing.

But Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) pointed to the San Diego barrier as an example. “Today I am told no one in the San Diego area crosses that fence, no one,” Kyl said.

He also cited statistics that showed crime in the San Diego area had dropped more than 50% after the barrier was installed.

“It’s beyond me why someone would deride” the proposal, Kyl said.

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Times staff writers Richard Simon and Janet Hook contributed to this report.