The fight over mass immigration in Texas is exposing the waning control of the establishment wing of the Republican Party.
This week, outgoing U.S. Sen. John Cornyn shared a National Review article provocatively titled “Heritage Americanism Is Massively Overrated and Counterproductive.”
The article attacks the growing emphasis conservatives have placed on Americans with deep, multigenerational roots in the country, arguing instead that immigration and assimilation have always been integral parts of the American story.
Cornyn’s decision to promote the article provides an appropriate window into his own longstanding record on immigration, particularly his support for the employment-based immigration system.
For more than two decades, Cornyn has supported policies facilitating foreign immigration, including the H-1B visa program.
Now, a new donor-network investigation is tracing tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to Cornyn committees from individuals connected to ITServe Alliance, an organization representing IT staffing and consulting companies deeply connected with the H-1B system.
According to the investigation, 39 people connected to ITServe, affiliated H-1B staffing businesses, and Trine University green-card sponsors contributed $74,601 to Cornyn committees.
And these contributions didn’t arrive all at once.
The investigation identifies six waves of contributions stretching from 2010 through 2025, including instances in which multiple individuals associated with the network made identical or similar contributions within days of one another.
In September 2025, the relationship became even more direct when ITServe advertised an “Exclusive Donor-Only Engagement – VIP Meet & Greet with Senator John Cornyn.”
Two months later, the ITServe Alliance PAC contributed $5,000 to Texans for Senator John Cornyn, according to the records compiled by the investigation.
One of the most striking aspects of the network involves Trine University, whose operations are best characterized as an F-1 OPT visa diploma mill.
Enrollment exploded from 652 students in 2018 to 9,868 in 2024, with more than 93% of its students coming from abroad and gaining access to the F-1/OPT pipeline.
The investigation also reports that Trine University paid the foreign-student recruiter Gurukul Overseas $17.5 million in FY2024-25 and identified 245 Trine-educated workers in permanent labor certification filings.
Seventy percent of the employers sponsoring those workers were IT staffing or “bodyshop” companies that place H-1B workers at client sites.
That is where the Trine operation crosses with Cornyn’s donor network. Multiple companies that sponsored Trine graduates for employment-based green cards also contributed to Cornyn.
Those companies include Advanced Knowledge Tech, Veridic Solutions, Conch Technologies, NeoPrism Solutions, Info Keys, and V3Tech Solutions.
ITServe, meanwhile, reportedly spent $985,000 lobbying Congress on H-1B issues between 2021 and 2026.
Taken together, Cornyn’s record and these financial connections explain his affinity for imported foreign labor.
But Cornyn himself has already suffered a historic rejection at the ballot box.
In May, Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated the four-term senator in the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate.
For Strong Borders, that result reflects a broader transformation underway within the Texas Republican Party: the Boomer-backed establishment that defended decades of mass immigration is losing ground to an America First movement demanding that immigration policy put American citizens first.
Texans have watched decades of mass immigration transform their communities, universities, workforce, and public institutions. And increasingly, Republican voters are rejecting the politicians who defended the system that allowed it to happen.
Cornyn’s record embodies that establishment: support for a foreign-labor system, advocacy for H-1B visas, and campaign contributions from individuals whose businesses participate in that system.
The battle over immigration is also becoming a battle over who controls the future of the Texas Republican Party. And the old guard’s reaction to candidates willing to challenge mass immigration shows just how much is at stake.