Sen. John Cornyn is probably sincere in the compassion he expressed in the Jan. 29 paper (“Texans take note: Obama’s heart isn’t in immigration reformâ€) for the millions here without immigration papers. However, he must have decided that to actually do something for them would be political suicide.
The DREAM Act, which would have legalized young people without papers who grew up here, had enough support to pass in the Senate and be signed into law, but Cornyn helped to block it from coming to a vote. So, his heart is with those who want to legalize their status, but his vote is against them. I don’t think Cornyn’s attempt to win favor with both sides of the immigration debate is fooling many.
The hunger strikers at UTSA tried to pressure Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to support the DREAM Act. They didn’t bother much with Cornyn. They knew he would vote against them, albeit with a tear in his eye.
(Printed on Feb. 7, 2011 in the San Antonio Express News, Letter to the Editor: http://bit.ly/exAaBL)