Ted Cruz in OnTheIssues Fact Checking

On Free Trade: I always opposed TPP, but I supported TPA

CRUZ: Actually that's incorrect. There are two different agreements. There's TPA and TPP. I opposed TPP and have always opposed TPP, which is what you asked about. Free trade, when we open up foreign markets, helps Americans. But we're getting killed in international trade right now.We're driving jobs overseas.

FACTCHECK: No one explained the acronyms, so we looked them up. According to Mother Jones magazine:

TPP = Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade treaty between the US and a bunch of other countries around the Pacific Rim. It's been under negotiation for years.

TPA = Trade Promotion Authority, aka "fast track." This comes before the TPP vote, and guarantees that the treaty text will be submitted to Congress for an up-or-down vote with no amendments allowed. Without it, the treaty is dead, since other countries won't allow the US to unilaterally makes changes.

On Immigration: FactCheck: Yes, Bill Clinton deported 12M illegal aliens

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:

We checked the facts and Ted Cruz is wrong--McCain was NOT born in Panama, but in the Panama Canal Zone, which at that time was a US. territory. Cruz claims, falsely, that McCain was the child of soldiers abroad--that would have been the case if McCain's parents had crossed the border to the country of Panama, but they chose to stay in US territory.

On the constitutional term "natural-born citizen", OnTheIssues follows the "stamp rule": What postage stamp would one use at the place one was born? McCain's parents would've used US stamps in the Canal Zone, so McCain is eligible. Barry Goldwater was similarly questioned in 1964 because he was born in Arizona territory before it became a state--he also passes the "stamp rule." George Romney, born to US parents in Mexico, does not pass the "stamp rule"--nor does Cruz!

On Principles & Values: FactCheck: Yes, Cruz speaks Spanish & understands Univision

• CRUZ: Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind Pres. Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office.
• RUBIO: Well, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn't speak Spanish.
• CRUZ: ¨Marco, qu‚ quieres? Ahora mismo, en espa¤ol: ¨Qu‚ quieres? ["Marco, what do you want? Right now, in Spanish, what do you want?"]
• RUBIO: Look, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country.