http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ush129.xml

The US Senate wrecked President George W Bush's final chance of securing a major domestic policy legacy before he leaves office when it killed off his immigration bill yesterday.

The bill failed to complete a procedural hurdle by seven votes, due to a rebellion by Republicans who refused to bow to pressure from the president.

Objectors said the provision of a path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants working in the US was an effective amnesty. Others were unconvinced by promises to secure the 2,000-mile southern land border used by more than 50 per cent of unlawful workers.

Some Democrats said the proposal was too soft on law breakers or harmful to trade unions' efforts to maintain wages.

The defeat leaves Mr Bush as arguably an even a lamer duck than most second-term presidents.

In the battle for a legacy, Mr Bush's domestic record is now limited to measures passed in his first term on education, health insurance and taxation which have earned mixed reviews even within his own party. In foreign policy Mr Bush, whose approval ratings are at record lows, will have to wait for history to judge the mostly disastrous Iraq war.

He also is involved in a periodic tussle with Congress, gained by the Democrats in last year's mid-term elections.

The president appeared shaken as he received news of the Senate's vote during a function at a military academy.

"Immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congress's failure to act on it is a disappointment," he said.

"A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn't find a common ground - it didn't work." Hours before the vote, the US Capitol's telephone switchboard was jammed by thousands of calls from groups and individuals for and against the bill, reflecting its fiercely divisive impact.

The last opinion poll before the vote showed 47 per cent of the public were against the bill.

The Republican senator, David Vitter, who worked to thwart the bill, said the message was "crystal clear" that Americans wanted action to secure borders before helping out illegal immigrants.

"They want action, they want results, they want proof, because they've heard all the promises before."

As a former governor of Texas, which borders Mexico and is a crossing point for thousands of illegal migrants, Mr Bush had an understanding of the immigration issue.

The doomed bill incorporated tough border security and obligations on employers, and a plan to legalise illegal immigrants and create a temporary worker program. It also would have created a merit-based system for future immigrants.

But without the £2.1 billion the bill promised for speeding up work on a border fence, immigrants are likely to continue coming in search of work.

Experts in immigration said the bill was muddled and concentrated too much on the unrealistic option of securing America's southern border when 42 per cent of illegal workers had arrived by other means and overstayed their visa.

Bruce Morrison, a former congressman, said: "The bill was a terrible bargain. Politicians find refuge in the imagery of a fence and border patrols but there will be ways over, through and around whatever is built."