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Ted Cruz on ImmigrationRepublican Texas Senator |
CRUZ: What Obama did repeatedly is his executive orders said "we will defy the law passed by Congress." If an executive order is directing how the executive will behave, then it's constitutional.
Q: So, is this asylum change okay?
CRUZ: The President is charged under federal law with securing the border. This so-called migrant caravan of over 10,000 people marching north, declaring their intention to cross the border illegally-- I told the President just recently, "Under no circumstances should we let them cross; we should use whatever tools are available--whether it is border patrol, or the military--but we shouldn't allow 10,000 to blatantly and deliberately violate the law." There is a right way to come to this country--and that's following the law, waiting in line, and following the rules.
CRUZ: Well listen, this is something we should all come together on. When it comes to family separation, everyone should agree. The right place for kids to be is with their parents.
Q: Will you say, "Mr. President, this isn't the right policy"?
CRUZ: I've been very clear to the president. We need to enforce the law but we should also keep families together.
Ted Cruz (R): No. End DACA. No path to citizenship to Dreamers or anyone else who violates immigration laws.
Beto O'Rourke (D): Protect Dreamers. "As American as my kids. & have done everything we've asked of them." Supports earned path to citizenship for millions here illegally.
RUBIO: DACA is an executive order that is unconstitutional. I will cancel it on my first day in office, which means people who currently hold those permits will not be allowed to renew them, and new people will not be allowed to apply for them. I am sympathetic to the plight of someone who came here when they were 2 years old, but you can't solve it doing something that is unconstitutional.
CRUZ: Existing law provides that those who are deported cannot come back here legally. U.S. citizens can come back. That's existing law.
CRUZ: When Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I led the fight to defeat that plan. The question for anyone on illegal immigration is where were you in that fight?
RUBIO: When that issue was being debated, at a committee hearing, Cruz said, "I want immigration reform to pass. I want people to be able to come out of the shadows." And he proposed an amendment that would legalize people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. He either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now.
CRUZ: I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one.
Is that true? We checked, and found that both of Cruz's figures are accurate. Looking at the Department of Homeland Security's "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Enforcement Actions", the figures in Table 39 are:
| Deportations | Administration|
|---|---|
| 8,300,000 | Reagan (1981-1988) |
| 4,100,000 | Bush Sr. (1989-1992) |
| 4,100,000 | Clinton (1993-2000) |
| 10,300,000 | Bush Jr. (2001-2008) |
| 3,200,000 | Obama first term (2009-2012; on track for 6 million total) |
RUBIO: After ten years in probationary status, where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people--not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control--you're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working.
CRUZ: There was a time for choosing, as Reagan put it. There was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio, to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with the American people and secure the border. And I tell you, if I'm elected president, we will secure the border. We will triple the border patrol. We will build a wall that works and I'll get Donald Trump to pay for it.
CRUZ: It is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty.
RUBIO: Does Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now?
CRUZ : I have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem.
CRUZ: Absolutely yes. And not only will I support it I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made [by Donald Trump] about our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally & get amnesty, that would fundamentally change this country.
Cruz has repeatedly referred to President Obama's executive order as "lawless amnesty," and in 2013, he filed an amendment that would deny a pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants. However, Cruz has shown some vague support for a "path to legal status," according to The New York Times. He has also proposed doubling the number of green cards given out each year.
Cruz has opposed the DREAM Act, which would "provide illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children a path to permanent residency if they attend college or serve in the military." In 2014, he unsuccessfully tried to reverse Obama's executive order to halt the deportation of young, undocumented immigrants.
CRUZ: All across this country, Republicans campaigned, saying: if you elect a Republican Senate, we will stop President Obama's illegal amnesty. We need to honor what we said. We should use the constitutional checks and balances that we have to rein in the abuse of power of the executive. Step #1 is if the president implements this lawless amnesty, that the Senate will not confirm any executive or judicial nominees.
CRUZ: We should use the constitutional checks and balances that we have to rein in the abuse of power of the executive. Step #1 that I have called for is the incoming majority leader should announce if the president implements this lawless amnesty, that the Senate will not confirm any executive or judicial nominees, other than vital national security positions, for the next two years, unless and until the president ends this lawless amnesty. That is an explicit authority given to the Senate.
Q: Are you saying the Senate should refuse to confirm the president's new nominee for attorney general?
CRUZ: We have to rein in the executive. In the Federalist Papers, our Framers talked about a president who would behave like a monarch. And step #2, we've got is the power of the purse, and we should fund one at a time the critical priorities of the federal government, but also use the power of the purse to attach riders.
Both agreed that the US has failed to secure its border with Mexico, and said they oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants and the Obama administration's new directive allowing many young illegal immigrants brought to the US as children to be exempted from deportation.
Dewhurst: I have always been against an amnesty program. "If they want to be a citizen, they ought to go home and reapply."
Dewhurst says he was against tuition for children of illegal immigrants.
Ted authored a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of 10 states in Lopez v. Gonzales, urging the strictest enforcement of laws punishing those with prior felony convictions who entered the country illegally.
Nineteen U.S. Senators introduced a resolution denouncing the radical calls for the dissolution of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE performs vital functions that protect American families. Last year, agents worked tirelessly around the clock to rescue 1,422 victims of human trafficking. More than 900 of those victims were children. ICE agents also removed a million pounds of narcotics and more than 4,800 gang members from the streets of this country. Those numbers are just a small fraction of the nearly 127,000 arrests made by ICE agents last year against people who came here and committed violent crimes against law-abiding Americans. Those criminals were responsible for more than 50,000 assaults, 2,000 kidnappings and 1,800 homicides.
"I am deeply troubled by the Democrats' reckless calls to abolish ICE. Eliminating ICE shows a blatant disregard for the welfare of the American people and our nation's immigration laws," said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA). "With the ever present threat of MS-13 and international terrorism, along with an opioid crisis being fought at our border, abolishing ICE is unthinkable. ICE officers are in the trenches fighting those threats and protecting American families from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that endanger our families. ICE deserves our gratitude and respect, not scorn and ridicule."
"Washington Democrats wanting to abolish ICE, our country's immigration law enforcement agency, are essentially demanding open borders," said Sen. Cassidy (R-LA). "Assaults on ICE officers nearly tripled in 2017, so instead of attacking them, we should support them as they work to secure our borders, stop the flow of deadly drugs, break up violent gangs like MS-13, rescue human trafficking victims, and keep our communities safe."