The piece of legislation that will build a 700-mile fence across the U.S-Mexico border will be in the hands of the president.

But here in El Paso, an organization is already working on pressuring Congress to come up with something else.

The Border Network of Human Rights gathered as soon as they heard the news that Congress approved the border fence legislation.

"We don't think that a wall will stop immigrants that are coming to our country or will solve the immigration problem," said Border Network of Human Rights Director Fernando Garcia.

But some El Pasoans feel a fence will be very effective. The fence to be constructed looks like a recently completed section south of San Diego.

"They'll also cut down on some of the risk of terrorists coming to the United States," said West El Pasoan Alfred Verala.

"I think twelve million illegals in the country is a tremendous amount. And we need to do something to stop it," said Karen Erler from West El Paso.

No one knows how much it will cost and the exact placement of the fence has not yet been finalized. The proposed areas have the heaviest illegal crossings including El Paso. The director of the Border Network said this will force undocumented immigrants to take more life-threatening journeys to get across and would promote smuggling.

"The people are going to require the services of the pollero or the coyote to come across because it's going to be more difficult," said Garcia.

Garcia also believes the decision is political and not practical.

"We believe we need to continue pressuring the Congress to actually discuss other elements on immigration reform such as legalization of people living in U.S. already," said Garcia.

The U.S. border with Mexico runs nearly 2,000 miles, 1,200 of them in Texas.

A separate bill also on the way to the White House makes a $1.2 billion down payment on the 700-mile fence.