MEXICO CITY - Mexico on Wednesday predicted that the United States will likely never build 1,125 kilometers (700 miles) of new fencing along the border that divides the two nations.

President Vicente Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said the U.S. Congress is unlikely to approve funding needed to finish the project.

"There is no money to build it, so it won't be built," Aguilar told reporters. "Even though the wall was approved, there is no funding."

No one knows how much the border fence will cost, but Congress sent a bill to the White House making a $1.2 billion downpayment on it. A 14-mile segment of fence under construction in San Diego is costing $126.5 million.

On Monday, the Mexican government sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing last week's U.S. Senate vote to authorize the new fencing as part of congressional efforts to combat illegal immigration.

And on Tuesday, all eight parties in Mexico's Congress joined forces to exhort Fox to use all the diplomatic means at his disposal to try to stop the construction of the fences.

The bill must still be signed into law by President George W. Bush. Mexico is lobbying Bush to veto it.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday U.S. officials were talking to Mexico about the issue of immigration, but he did not give details.

Aguilar said on Tuesday his country still wants a comprehensive immigration reform that would allow more people to migrate to the United States legally.

"The wall will be useless and unworkable," Aguilar said, adding that it would affect the environment, ecology, and even the reproduction of some species.