As we start markup on the Senate Gang of 8 immigration bill again tomorrow, watch out for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)’s continuing hypocrisy on immigration reform.
This week, the Senator released a new video (and wrote an op-ed) portraying himself as an advocate of migrants who die in the desert while trying to come into the US. Problem is, he is one of the Senators most responsible for blocking legislation that would modernize our immigration system–and save these migrants’ lives.
We’ve pointed out Cornyn’s hypocrisy out before. But here’s Katherine Haenschen doing it today on a Texas blog, Burnt Orange Report:
Yesterday, our senior senator penned an emotional Op-Ed for Fox News, in which he calls on Americans to have sympathy for the horrors faced by undocumented immigrants who come to America for a better chance at life. While his message is true and probably something the Fox News crowd needs to internalize a bit more, it’s not as if Cornyn is calling for an actual comprehensive reform policy with a pathway to citizenship…
Worst of all, while Cornyn acts like he’s an advocate for immigrants who perish in the desert, in reality he has one of the worst records of blocking comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. Cornyn voted against reform in 2006 and 2007, and voted against the DREAM Act in 2010, all while calling himself a reformer.
At least Ted Cruz is honest about his genuine opposition to any pathway to citizenship. That’s right — Ted “son of a Cuban immigrant born in Canada” Cruz, who by his own extreme birtherism isn’t eligible to run for President — opposes any pathway to citizenship.
It will be interesting to watch Cornyn try to balance his need to appease an electorate that sent Ted Cruz to the US Senate while also claiming to be sensitive to the experiences of actual undocumented immigrants. In the meantime, it looks like Cornyn is doing all he can to maintain his mantle as “Biggest Hypocrite” award from America’s Voices for his constant pandering to both sides on immigration.