Pass bill on immigration this month

Bush used his weekly radio address to step up pressure on senators debating legislation that couples tighter border controls with a guest-worker programme, plus measures giving a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

The president, who backs immigration reform largely along the lines of what the Senate is considering, announced plans to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops on the US-Mexican border in a rare televised address from the Oval Office on Monday.

"America must secure its borders," Bush insisted on Saturday.

Any Senate bill must be reconciled with a tougher House version, the target of mass street protests in recent weeks, that would make illegal immigrants felons while offering no prospects for gaining temporary work permits or citizenship.