US Senate approves border fence, voting 80-19 in favor

[Merika]

The US Senate has overwhelmingly endorsed the building of a fence along part of the border with Mexico, in an effort to curb illegal immigration.

The bill was approved by a vote of 80-19 - with leading Democrats such as Hillary Clinton joining the Republican majority that had proposed the measure.

The bill must be reconciled with a similar move passed in the House of Representatives last week.

Supporters of the 700-mile fence (1,125km) fence said it was a crucial tool to fight illegal immigration - which is expected to be a key issue in November's mid-term elections.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5394222.stm
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I don't know why this can't be done efficiently with helicopters. The whole fence thing seems silly because people can figure a way to cross a fence...obviously since prisoners do it all the time and it's even guarded.

I really think fining and jailing companies who use illegal workers and not giving government freebies to those who are here illegally, would begin to address this issue in a better way. Also, make the 'day worker' cards easy enough to get. I'm not sure how this whole issue got to be such a mess.

Canada has such a good program for this and I wonder why we don't adopt some of those ideas. I really feel sorry for these people who just want to work...since so many Americans just DON'T.

[Luba]

A fence won't keep anyone out if they want to get in bad enough, they'll find a way...

[Merika]

The shame of it all is that there are so many good hard working people mixed in with all the drug and prostitution slime....so they all have a bad name with everyone against them.