WASHINGTON – President Bush wanted an exchange of workers with Mexico to bring order to the border, but wound up signing a law Thursday that approves partitioning 700 miles of the United States from its southern neighbor.

The administration once talked of “orderly migration” – workers entering the United States and returning to Mexico or other countries when their jobs were finished. But political realities have replaced phrases like that with “border security” and plans for fences, surveillance cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles and watch towers.

Bush still wants a guest-worker program. But the toughest resistance to that idea has come from his own Republican Party – and has intensified as the midterm elections have drawn near.

His White House signing ceremony for the new fence law gave Republicans something to point to as they try to convince voters their party would do a better job of cracking down on illegal immigrants and keeping criminals and terrorists out.