US Congress votes to build border fence with Mexico

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Congress has taken a symbolic step toward resolving the problem of illegal immigration by approving a bill that calls for building a fence along more than one-third of the US-Mexican border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. By a vote of 80-19, the Senate approved the measure that President George W.

Bush was expected to sign into law soon. The House of Representatives on September 14 passed the same bill that calls for the 1,200-kilometer-long (700-mile) fence. The fence that will be partially financed from the budget of the Homeland Security Department was one of the components of a comprehensive immigration reform plan debated by Congress earlier this year. The plan triggered the most massive demonstrations by immigrants in US history. The...