Bush Signs U.S.- Mexico Border Fence Bill

President Bush signed into law Thursday a broad measure that calls for fencing a third of the 2,100-mile border between the United States and Mexico.

"This bill will protect the American people, this will bill make our borders more secure. It is animportant step in immigration reform," Bush said from the White House Roosevelt Room beforeputting pen to paper.

Bush was joined by Vice President Dick Cheney, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, House MajorityLeader John Boehner and several other lawmakers and administration officials.Bush said the UnitedStates is a nation of immigrants but also a nation of laws.

"Unfortunately, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders for decades, andtherefore, illegal immigration has been on the rise. We have a responsibility to address thesechallenges, we have a responsibility to enforce our laws, we have a responsibility to secure ourborders. We take this responsibility seriously," Bush said.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 gives the secretary of Homeland Security 18 months to get"operational control over U.S. international land and maritime borders" by improving surveillancethrough personnel and technology as well as "physical infrastructure enhancements to preventunlawful border entry and facilitate border access by U.S. Customs and Border Protection."

The measure provides for at least two layers of reinforced fencing and the installation of additionalbarriers through 700 miles of portions of California, Texas andArizona. The legislation also demandsthe secretary report to appropriate committees in Congress on its progress and "the necessity,feasibility and economic impact" of the construction.

It also gives the Department of Homeland Security the authority to decide where to use the fencingand where to use the department's preferred option of a virtual fence comprised of cameras,vehicles barriers, checkpoints, lighting and motion sensors, which officials say is more economicaland just as effective.

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg estimates that about half the 700 miles will actually befence.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the project will cost roughly $2.2 billion, or about $3.2million per mile.

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The measure, sent to Bush on Tuesday by the Congress, is a compromise that gives Republicancandidates in border states a winning campaign issue, with polls indicating strong support fortightening the border as an essential first step to getting control of illegal immigration.

The act also represents a step in an ongoing process of political compromise between Republicansand Bush on the issue of how to deal with the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrantsalready in the United States.

Bush has proposed a guest worker program and path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already inthe country.

The president said for legal employment to bea success, more needs to be done to verifydocuments and work eligibility while crackingdown on those who break the law.

"We must face the reality that millions ofillegal immigrants are already here. Theyshould not be given an automatic path tocitizenship. That is amnesty. I opposeamnesty. There is a rational middle groundbetween granting a path of automaticcitizenship and a program of massdeportation," Bush said.

Bush argues it will be easier to get his guest worker program passed if Republicans keep theirmajorities in the House and Senate after the Nov. 7 elections.

Democrats, however, for the most part have been more in tune with the president's objectives for a

guest worker option, and outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox has spent much of his six years inoffice lobbying for a program. He calls the fence "shameful" and compares it to the Berlin Wall.

Customs and Border Protection statistics,however, show that apprehensions at bordercrossings are down 8 percent nationally forthe budget year that just ended, andapprehensions were up in the San Diegosector, which has the most fencing, said T.J.Bonner, president of the National BorderPatrol Council, a union representing BorderPatrol agents.

Still, Bonner said more agents are needed asmuch as a physical barrier.

"A fence will slow people down by a minute or two, but if you don't have the agents to stop them itdoes no good. We're not talking about some impenetrable barrier," he said.

Paying for it is another issue.

While the measure signed Thursday contains financing, a Homeland Security appropriations billsigned by the president earlier this month also contains $1.2 billion for the fencing. Congress,however, withheld most of that funding pending a report from DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff onexactly how the money will be spent.

That report is expected to be politically explosive, so Chertoff isn't issuing it until December, afterthe election. Chertoff has said he wants to use about $70 million to test a virtual fence on a 28-milestretch of the border south of Tucson, Ariz., and then adjust the plans depending on how effective itis.

After the signing, Bush was off to campaign for congressional hopeful Jeff Lamberti in Iowa andSenate candidate Mike Bouchard in Michigan.

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FOX News' Wendell Goler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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