Does John Cornyn ‘Strongly Support’ A Path To Citizenship For Dreamers?

Our weekly check-in with the Texas Truth-O-Meter.

By Brandon Mulder, PolitiFact/Austin American-Statesman; radio story produced by Alexandra Hart & Kristen CabreraOctober 7, 2020 3:52 pm, , ,

From PolitiFact Texas/Austin American-Statesman:

Examining Cornyn’s Record On Dreamer Legalization

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, released a Spanish-language campaign advertisement in September that says the senator “fights for all Texans,” including immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers.

The 30-second ad began airing in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley on Sept. 12. In it, a voice-over describes the senator’s position on Dreamers.

“While Senator Cornyn is for secure borders, he strongly supports legalization for Dreamers,” the Spanish-speaking narrator says.

There’s no doubt that Cornyn has voiced his support over the years for protecting young Dreamers from deportation. “In America, we don’t hold children responsible for the mistakes their parents made,” Cornyn has said. And his aides point to numerous occasions when he has cast votes on bills designed to provide Dreamers a path to citizenship.

Nonetheless, immigrant advocates and Cornyn’s Democratic detractors are quick to highlight other occasions when legislation with Dreamer protections was scuttled or opposed by the senator. A clear picture of Cornyn’s voting record on Dreamers, however, is tangled in the messy politics of immigration reform.

We were curious about Cornyn’s record. We found the issue goes back to Cornyn’s early days in the Senate.

Read the full story at PolitiFact, and hear how Cornyn’s claim scored in the audio player above.

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