Immigration debate heats up in Senate

Bush planned to use a naturalisation ceremony for swearing in 30 new citizens Monday to press his call for a "guest worker" programme. The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, faced a midnight deadline for completing a bill that would do it.

"We must remember there are hardworking individuals, doing the jobs that Americans will not do, who are contributing the economic vitality of our country," the president said in his weekend radio address.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, calls for tougher border security have dominated debate over the knotty problem of controlling immigration.

But a tough immigration-enforcement bill passed by the House last year has galvanised forces that want worker programmes for illegal immigrants already in the country.