EDINBURG, Texas - According to U.S. Sen John Cornyn, tens of hundreds of border crossers fly into Mexicali Airport in Baja California and then take an Uber to the nearest Border Patrol station to claim asylum.

Cornyn said he learned about this from visiting with the Border Patrol chief in Yuma, Arizona. Cornyn spoke about border security at a luncheon hosted by the RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The event was held at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.

“Recently, I went to the Yuma Border Patrol sector, which is in a sleepy little Ag community in southwest Arizona with some of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans. The acting Border Patrol chief said to us, ‘Welcome to the Yuma sector. We encountered people from 147 different countries, speaking more than 200 languages last year.’ 

“And we thought, how in the world could that possibly be true? So Mark Kelly, one of the senators from Arizona, pointed out that Mexicali is a city in northern Mexico with an airport and that literally people are flying in there. And then Uber-ing over to the Border Patrol and turning themselves in and claiming asylum.”

Cornyn participated in a Q&A during the luncheon, with questions posed by Julian Alvarez, senior vice president of business development for Lone Star National Bank. One of Alvarez’s five questions was about border security.

“Let me say very clearly, legal immigration, has been a blessing to our country. It has been a blessing, an unequivocal blessing. It has helped us allow the best and brightest, the hardest working people in the world to come to our country and seek a better life,” Cornyn said. 

However, undocumented immigration is out of control, Cornyn opined.


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