“We’re going to use every effort to slow this process down and continue to hold up the bill and read it to the American people and show them that even though they may favor the ideals of the legislation that the legislation won’t get us there,” Sessions said. “And we’re going to need a national commitment from the president through the Congress, really a mindset change, in which we say, ‘We can make this system lawful.’”

Sessions wants Congress to go back to the drawing board, but he acknowledged that deporting the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the country is not an option.

“We’re going to have to accept the fact…that everybody that’s been in our country for some time, that have roots here, that have family here, that have worked here faithfully for a long time, they can’t be asked to leave,” the senator said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “But we do not need to create a system in which people who come to our country gain every single benefit that we give to lawful entrants into our country. 

On the same show, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) one of the leaders of the group crafting the comprehensive immigration bill, said he believes there will be enough votes to pass the legislation.