WASHINGTON -- The US Senate adopted on Thursday sweeping reforms of immigration law that would allow millions of undocumented workers to seek legal status in the United States.

The bill passed 62-36 despite deep divisions within the majority Republican Party and among Americans.

The Senate bill has the bipartisan support of Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy as well as the backing of Republican President George W. Bush.

Bush saluted passage of the text and said effective immigration reform must address both economic and border security needs and 'honor America's great tradition of the melting pot.'

'I look forward to working together with both the House of Representatives and the Senate to produce a bill for me to sign into law,' he said.

However, the bill's final adoption is hardly guaranteed, as it differs sharply from a tougher bill passed in the lower House of Representatives, and the two must be reconciled.

'Today is not the day to celebrate. We have won a big battle but not the war,' Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said.

The Senate bill would create 200,000 temporary work visas for foreigners who take low-skill jobs here, and double the number of US Border Patrol agents on the border with Mexico.

Most controversial is a provision that would allow many of the estimated 11.5 million foreign workers here illegally, many of them Mexican, to gain legal status.

The bill also includes funding to build a 600 kilometer (370 miles) wall along the Mexican border to block illegal entry.

The consequences of reform are so great for both countries that Mexican President Vicente Fox was on a three-day visit to the United States to discuss immigration and labor with US business and political leaders.

'This is a historic day, one to celebrate,' Fox told Mexican broadcasters from his presidential jet, in response to the Senate vote.

'It is a wonderful day for the United States and Mexico, but especially for Mexicans in the United States and their families,' said Fox.

The US Chamber of Commerce also welcomed the text.

'This bill constitutes a sound bipartisan legislative blueprint which addresses both the security and economic needs of the country,' its vice president Randel Johnson said in a statement.

Senators wrapped up two months of debate on the reforms Bush has sought for more than two years. The bill aims to stem illegal immigration but welcome illegal immigrants who have already been integrated into US society -- derided by some as an 'amnesty.'
'The problem with this bill is that it is an amnesty bill, or a legalization bill, that I think is just fundamentally unfair to millions of people waiting around the world trying to get into this country legally, as well as the millions who have come into this country and waited and paid dearly, I might add, to come into this country legally,' Senator Rick Santorum said.

Not so, said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: 'We've taken a bill that the American people would have concluded was amnesty and by my lights, we took the amnesty out while we put the security in.'

Senators will have difficulty bringing their bill into line with a much tougher version passed by the House in December. The House would make unapproved US entry a federal crime and bolster border security.

Immigrants' rights activists and religious officials fiercely oppose it.
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said despite Senate the Senate bill contained 'objectionable provisions' but was nevertheless 'an important step toward achieving effective immigration reform in our nation that is just, fair, and humane.'

Immigration is likely to be a particularly hot issue during mid-term elections in November and some Republican proponents worry that its failure could prove very costly on the campaign trail.

The House bill has sparked some of the largest protests in recent US history, with millions of predominantly Hispanic demonstrators taking to the streets in major American cities since late March to defend their contribution to US society and the economy.

'The American people may have different views as to how we should address this issue, but I think all of them think we ought to address it,' said McCain.