Sen. Cornyn's staffer in charge of immigration policy returned a call that I made a couple of days ago. We talked for about half an hour on a number of issues, but I'll give you the gist of what he told me about the Senator's evolving stance on immigration.

First off, he informed me that the Senator is not happy with the process being employed by the Dems to craft S-9 in secret. He said that the Senator is investigating his options, but that as ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee's immigration subcommittee that he would do whatever was possible in view of the hostile Democrats' current control. He agreed that having a narrow group of special interests invited to help craft the legislation was sleazy and promised that any resulting bill would be given close scrutiny.

He volunteered that the Senator has seen a growing consensus among his constituents against any immigration bill that is soft on enforcement and against amnesty of any sort. He said that they are receiving an increasing number of calls from constituents who are concerned about rising crime, and that the Senator has compiled a number of reports from constituents who have been victims of crimes involving illegal immigrants.

I mentioned that I was not happy with the Senator's previous support for a guest worker program that included a pathway to citizenship. He said that the Senator currently opposes any legislation that does not deal with enforcement first, and that he doesn't believe that rewarding illegal behavior is acceptable. It sounded to me as though the Senator is revising his stance. He also mentioned that any guest worker program would need to be one that addresses the actual employment needs of the country rather than accommodating a single group of immigrants.

We touched on the issue fo of banks providing mortgages and credit cards to illegals. He said that this was an item of concern for the Senator and one that he would likely be addressing this session.

We covered a few other topics, but the overall discussion was encouraging. He invited me to follow up at any time, saying that he had made some notes and that my input was welcome on this and other topics. I concluded by recommending that Senator Cornyn avail himself of the resources here at ALIPAC if he was not already familiar with the group. He indicated that they were familiar with ALIPAC, but would be happy to follow up on any new information on the site.