A new campaign advertisement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton targets Sen. John Cornyn over past remarks on immigration and border security, as the May 26 Republican Senate primary runoff nears.
The ad, released by Paxton’s campaign, includes narration describing Cornyn as “pro-amnesty” and features video clips of the incumbent senator’s past remarks on immigration and the border wall.
One segment of the ad features Cornyn speaking at the 2013 Texas Public Policy Foundation Policy Orientation in Austin, which was hosted by Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal.
At one point, Cornyn stated:
“The American people are compassionate people. Once they realize that we’ve done our job, in terms of security and maintaining law and order, then I think they would find a way to deal with the 12 million people or so or less, now perhaps, who are here but not necessarily a path to citizenship. I think some sort of probationary status that someone could, after serving a period of time on probation, they could work here and they could stay in the United States.”
Another portion of the advertisement references comments Cornyn made on January 12, 2018, in Weslaco, Texas.
During that appearance, Cornyn said:
“I can say from firsthand experience that a new, giant wall between the United States and Mexico from sea to shining sea makes no sense whatsoever.”
The advertisement concludes with narration stating, “Cornyn: good for illegals, bad for Texans.”
The latest release follows a previous Paxton campaign ad reported by Breitbart News that focused on Cornyn’s unflattering statements about President Donald Trump, including clips in which Cornyn said, “President Trump fed that fantasy by repeatedly claiming the election was stolen,” and described the president’s actions as “reckless.” The ad also featured Cornyn stating, “I do not think he could win the presidency,” and defending investigations into Trump, while contrasting those statements with Ken Paxton’s record, including his support for Trump’s 2024 campaign and his legal challenge to the 2020 election results.
Paxton has received endorsements from several elected officials and organizations, including Reps. Burgess Owens (R-UT), Brandon Gill (R-TX), and Eli Crane (R-AZ), as well as Texas state Rep. Steve Toth (R), who recently won the Republican primary for Texas’s 2nd Congressional District by defeating incumbent Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and Turning Point Action.
In February 2026, Paxton announced investigations into several Texas school districts over alleged facilitation of student protests against lawful federal immigration enforcement. At the time, he said, “I will not allow Texas schools to become breeding grounds for the radical Left’s open borders agenda.”
Cornyn’s record on illegal immigration includes opposition to key border enforcement measures, particularly a physical border wall. He previously said, “This idea that all you can do is build some obstacle and people won’t go over it, or go under it, or go through it is naive,” and also stated, “I don’t think we’re just going to be able to solve border security with a physical barrier,” adding when asked about Donald Trump’s approach, “That’s certainly not my sense.”
Cornyn supported every one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, many who later issued rulings affecting Trump administration immigration policies. Among them, U.S. District Judge Jerry Edwards Jr. ordered bond hearings or release for migrants while blocking expanded detention policies, and U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi ordered the release of detained migrants in immigration cases. U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez ruled that immigration detention cases could proceed as a class action, while U.S. District Judge Samantha Elliott and U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles issued decisions that blocked or delayed deportations in specific cases. In Texas, U.S. Circuit Judge Dana Douglas authored a majority opinion requiring the removal of floating border barriers deployed under Operation Lone Star.
In an August interview with Breitbart News Saturday, Paxton said that Cornyn had been “openly fighting Donald Trump on the border wall.” Breitbart News previously reported in June 2022 that Cornyn suggested he would push through an immigration bill and had “long been a supporter of employment-based immigration.” In 2017, Cornyn said he did not believe President Trump was serious about the wall, stating, “When I hear the president talk about the wall I think he’s speaking metaphorically.”
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