Social Media Posts And A Spanish Campaign Ad Expose John Cornyn’s History Of Support For Amnesty

Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn is facing scrutiny after campaign staff social media posts and a 2020 election campaign ad resurfaced online this week.

Cornyn, in an unlisted 2020 Spanish-language television spot titled “Tranquilo” on his campaign’s YouTube, targets Hispanic voters. In the ad, a female voiceover — speaking Spanish — explicitly states that Sen. Cornyn ” firmly supports the legalization of the ‘Dreamers’.” That line is immediately followed by Sen. Cornyn — in English — stating, “I’m John Cornyn, and I approve this message.”

The video also includes other Spanish statements on Cornyn’s border policies, including his efforts to stop sex trafficking, his support of police reform, and his desire to have secure borders.

After the video began gaining traction on social media late Thursday evening, it appears the Cornyn campaign set it to private. However, anti-Cornyn activists quickly began posting other videos of the Texas lawmaker explaining on the Senate floor that he had lobbied former President Barack Obama to push Congress to adopt Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This legislation provides renewable two-year deportation protections and work authorizations to illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children. (RELATED: ‘Big Win’: Trump-Appointed Judge Temporarily Closes Door To Obamacare For DACA Recipients)

More recently, Cornyn has moved toward a less permissive stance on amnesty. In 2024, Cornyn pushed legislation with fellow Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz that would have prevented the former Biden administration from using several visa loopholes to effectively grant amnesty to 500,000 illegal immigrants — though the bill was never adopted by the Senate.

“For almost four years, the Biden-Harris administration has waived their magic amnesty wand to create unlawful programs that allow any and every person to enter and stay in the U.S. – legally or not,” Cornyn said at the time, adding, “Our legislation would root out this massive pull factor while also preserving the integrity of our employment-based nonimmigrant visa program, and I’m grateful to my colleagues for their support.”

Still, the social media and digital campaign gaffes do not stop with Cornyn. Conservative voter registration and election activist Scott Presler uncovered posts authored by Matt Mackowiak — Cornyn’s communications director — in which he lamented the lack of amnesty for illegal immigrants in a legislative deal in 2016. “No apologies. No compassion. No humanity. No path to legal status. A failure by any measure,” Mackowiak wrote at the time.

Shortly after Presler raised the issue of the tweet with Mackowiak directly, Cornyn’s communications director deleted the social media post.

However, Mackowiak is not alone in the Cornyn camp. Rob Jesmer, the Cornyn campaign’s general consultant, also has a long history of pro-amnesty and anti-Donald Trump social media posts. In February 2015, Jesmer was promoting polling that suggested a majority of Americans favored a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal immigrants.

Further, a series of screenshots taken by Tom Slocum, a former Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, Jesmer appears to retweet Mackowiak’s pro-amnesty post, as well as an August 2016 post by Lincoln Project honcho Stuart Stevens, who served as the top strategist for Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign.

“Not sure who convinced Donald Trump that immigration was number one issue for Americans but nobody running for Senate seems to agree,” Stevens wrote. (RELATED: MSNBC Guest Claims Republicans Want To ‘Burn Down’ Voting Centers To Disenfranchise Black Voters)

Finally, Jesmer also appears to have retweeted a social media post authored in October 2016 by Cornyn, himself, stating, “I am disgusted by Mr Trump’s words about women: our daughters, sisters and mothers.”

Fascinating posts from Team Cornyn! 👀

How could any Republican in Texas vote for John Cornyn when Cornyn’s staffers believe immigration is not a number one issue???!

Do they live on the same planet with the rest of America?

The high level of disconnect is real. pic.twitter.com/bwrkrHkMsp

— Tom Slocum for Texas 🇺🇸 (@slocumfortexas) April 22, 2026

Cornyn is set to face off against his challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in the May 26 Republican primary runoff election.

Mackowiak told the Daily Caller on Friday that Paxton and his allies are attacking Cornyn for his support of the failed but Trump-backed Secure and Succeed Act, which Mackowiak said: “would have ended the visa lottery and reformed chain migration.” However, the immigration reform framework still provided a pathway to conditional permanent residence for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children.

“Sen. Cornyn has consistently supported all border security efforts and earned the endorsement of the National Border Patrol Council,” Mackowiak told the Caller.