Senate Works on Immigration Bill Piece by Piece

May 19, 2006 — -- President Bush says there must be a comprehensive plan to address border security, and part of that plan is a border fence.

"Part of the fencing is to make sure we stop flows of people coming across. And we, we must enforce our border," Bush told ABC News Correspondent Martha Raddatz in an interview on Thursday.

In March, Bush had said that fencing the border was impractical, but now the idea is back on the table as he struggles to come up with an immigration reform bill that will pass, said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who delivered the Democratic response to Bush's speech on immigration on Monday.

The Senate on Thursday passed an amendment that would construct a 375-mile fence along part of the U.S.-Mexico border and another that would mandate English as our national language.

But Bush wants more.

"Part of it's fencing, part of it's manpower increased, part of it is infrared detection. But part of it is also saying to somebody, 'if you're going to come here to do a job somebody's not doing, right now, there ought to be a legal way to do so on a temporary basis,' " he told Raddatz. "That's why I'm calling for a comprehensive plan."

Durbin agrees with Bush that more needs to be done to protect the border.

"We're talking about a 370-mile fence on a 2,000-mile border," he told "Good Morning America." "The weakness of that argument is obvious. We need to make sure that we have a comprehensive approach that has a secure border, which includes more border agents, more technology, fencing, yes, some vehicle barriers. It has to be an approach that just isn't about building a fence."

The Senate and the House are currently worlds apart in how they plan to reform immigration. The Senate bill calls for a guest worker program that would allow people to work temporarily -- but legally -- in the U.S. and allow illegals who have been here for a long time to get "earned citizenship." The House bill has no guest worker program and would make people who are here illegally into felons.