Border Barrier Approved

Bush is expected to sign the measure into law.

"Most immigrants come to America with good intentions, but not all of them," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said in supporting the bill. "We need an enforcement-first approach

The bill, which passed 80 to 19 and is identical to legislation passed by the House last week, authorizes the building of double-layered fencing in areas near Tecate and Calexico, Calif., and border towns in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

It also empowers the government's Homeland Security secretary to "take all actions

The legislation's opponents dismissed it as a costly political gimmick that would have little effect on stopping illegal immigration. They also chided Congress for failing to create a guest worker program or to address the status of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

The fence is "a feel-good plan that will have little effect in the real world," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Even before the bill passed, it prompted an angry condemnation from the Mexican government.

"We have indicated in a clear and unambiguous manner that the wall is unnecessary and that it is not a gesture that shows friendship between the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States," said Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez.

He said Mexico would send a note of diplomatic protest about the fence to the White House.

The debate on immigration dominated much of this year's congressional session, especially after Bush in a nationally televised speech in May called for a sweeping rewrite of current policy. He called for legislation that, in addition to increased border security, would create a path to U.S. citizenship for many illegal immigrants and a guest worker program as part of a broad effort to control entry into the U.S.

The Senate later that month passed a bill embracing the approach, but efforts to reach agreement with the House quickly reached a stalemate.