Sen. John Cornyn Promotes New Bill to Address Border Crisis

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX 28) have each introduced bills in their respective houses of Congress that they together are calling the “Humane Act.” The bill is intended to close a loophole in a 2008 law that treats illegal immigrants from other countries differently than illegal immigrants from Mexico. According to Senator Cornyn, the law requires immigrants from countries other than Mexico to be released to a relative in the United States pending a hearing on a date in the future as set forth in a notice to appear. Most of those appearance obligations are never kept by the illegal immigrants, according to Senator Cornyn, resulting in de facto legal admission into the country. The bill that Sen. Cornyn and Rep. Cuellar have introduced would effectively modify that 2008 law so as to require detention of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied children, and a speedy trial to determine the disposition of each case. The bill faces stiff headwinds in the Democratically-controlled Senate according to Sen. Cornyn.

KTBB’s Paul Gleiser spoke with Sen. Cornyn. That interview is available below.