Opponents to comprehensive immigration reform introduced legislation on Wednesday to counter the Senate bipartisan framework that calls for a tough path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

The proposals from Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and many of the same opponents from the 2007 reform debate, include preventing children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants from becoming citizens, cutting off federal funding to cities that “provide safe harbor, ” and expanding E-verify and other enforcement measures. One proposal to expand visas for high-skilled workers is an uncontroversial idea, but last year Republicans introduced a STEM bill that would have effectively reduced legal immigration, under the guise of expanding the program.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Vitter said, “We don’t have the kind of commitment to law enforcement at this point that gives the American people the confidence that we’re moving on the right path. So this is no sure thing.”

Despite Vitter’s claim more enforcement is needed before anything else, undocumented immigration from Mexico has slowed down to zero, while border crossings are at their lowest level in 40 years. The U.S. has hit nearly all of 2007 targets for enforcement, with 81 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border now meeting one of the top three levels of “operational control” by U.S. enforcement officials.

Omitting a path to citizenship not only ignores growing support for the issue, but it relegates 11 million undocumented immigrants to a permanent underclass. Many Republicans, including Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, would criticize Vitter’s attempt to pass piecemeal legislation that offers no permanent solution. “People who oppose such reform declare that securing the United States border must come before moving toward broader reform,” Jeb Bush penned in an op-ed. “Such an approach is shortsighted and self-defeating. Border security is inextricably intertwined with other aspects of immigration policy. ”

As bipartisan momentum builds for comprehensive immigration reform in the aftermath of the GOP’s poor showing among Latinos in the 2012 election, conservative Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) warned Republicans that “immigration is exactly the wrong subject to use to attract Hispanic support.”

Urging the GOP to tout America’s acceptance of legal immigrants, Smith wrote, in a Politico op-ed published on Wednesday, that conservatives should focus messaging “better financial security — more take-home pay, more job opportunities and a stronger economy,” and avoid falling into the trap of addressing the broken immigration system by allowing unauthorized immigrants to earn citizenship. Doing so, Smith says, would only strengthen Democrats, who would continue “giving benefits to illegal immigrants” and undermine the GOP’s politically:

Does anyone really think Republicans are going to outbid Democrats on giving benefits to illegal immigrants?

And fifth, you have to be a little suspicious when liberal Democrats tell Republicans they have to support amnesty to win elections. Do Republicans really think they have the best interests of the GOP at heart?

Immigration is the field Democrats want to lure Republicans to play on. Why? Because Democrats know they’ll win.

Democrats have done the math and realize that legalization inevitably would give them millions of votes, meaning more victories in congressional and presidential elections.

Smith offers some piecemeal reforms for establishing a guest-worker program in the agricultural industry and allowing immigrant graduates with advanced degrees in “science, technology, engineering and math ” to stay in the country.

However, he has a long history of supporting anti-immigration causes. In 2011, Smith supported measures that would have allowed the government to imprison immigrants indefinitely and forced authorities to deport undocumented immigrant women who are victims of domestic violence and come to them for help. He later refused to hold hearings on the DREAM Act, calling it an American nightmare.