However, the legislation’s critics are already attempting to discredit Corker-Hoeven by claiming it doesn’t actually do what its supporters claim, as my colleague, Byron York, reported Saturday. Accordingly, immigration reform’s chances in the House could depend in part on the proponents of the Senate package and their ability to build support for the enhanced border security measures in the final bill.

Even conservatives who might want to support an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws and are willing to offer a pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants worry that the federal government will never follow through with the Senate bill’s mandated border security plan, including completion of 700 miles of fencing, the hiring and deployment of an additional 20,000 border patrol agents and the implementation of a nationwide e-verify system for employers.

That’s why some Senate Republicans tried, unsuccessfully, to amend the Gang of Eight package to include a trigger that would demonstrably prove that the border had been secured before a former undocumented immigrant, legalized under the legislation, could move on to citizenship.