Immigration (legal pathway)
John Cornyn (R)
Cornyn engaged with the 2013 Gang of Eight immigration reform — adding the 'border surge' Cornyn-Hoeven amendment that doubled Border Patrol agents to 38,405 — but ultimately voted against the final bill citing path-to-citizenship concerns. He co-sponsored the 2024 Lankford-Murphy-Sinema border-security framework which collapsed under House Republican opposition after Trump's intervention, and he publicly defended the package's enforcement provisions. He supports increased H-1B and H-2A allocations for skilled and agricultural labor and has championed DACA-recipient legal certainty in narrower bills. He has been measured in the Paxton-led litigation against DACA, supporting the legal challenge while publicly endorsing congressional action to provide certainty for long-term residents. He has co-sponsored remain-in-Mexico-style enforcement frameworks while opposing family separation in policy and rhetoric.
Ken Paxton (R)
Paxton led the multistate DACA lawsuits since 2018, convincing Judge Hanen and the Fifth Circuit to block new first-time DACA applications. His office has sued the Biden administration more than 100 times on immigration including catch-and-release, parole programs, and the border wall. On the H-1B visa specifically he said: 'I want legal immigration… But it's got to be decided by Congress. Our immigration laws work if we follow them.' In Jan. 2026 he opened an H-1B fraud investigation against three North Texas businesses. His campaign priority is helping Trump 'deport the criminal illegal aliens Joe Biden invited into the country' and complete the border wall.
Sources
- Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, official campaign issues page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Sen. John Cornyn, official Senate website and 2026 re-election campaign issues page, accessed May 2026 (cornyn.senate.gov; johncornyn.com). (full list)
- Gabby Birenbaum, 'On the issues: A Q&A with Ken Paxton and John Cornyn,' Texas Tribune, April 20, 2026. (full list)
- Texas Attorney General, 'Paxton Leads Coalition to Defeat DACA,' Dec. 2022; ongoing Fifth Circuit litigation since 2018. (full list)
- Cornyn vote on S. 744, Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, June 27, 2013; RESULTS Act / Cornyn-Heller substitute amendment; 'border surge' Cornyn-Hoeven amendment incorporated into the bill. (full list)