Posted on 12/18/2015 8:22:59 AM PST by Isara
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday was forced once again to defend his record on immigration, saying his amendment to the 2013 reform effort called the "bluff" of those backing the legislation.
"I introduced an amendment that made anyone here illegally permanently ineligible for citizenship. That amendment called their bluff," Cruz told reporters gathered in Las Vegas on Thursday.
"What they were interested in, what Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama wanted, was very simple: They wanted millions of new Democratic voters," he went on to say. "There's a reason why I think the new politically correct term is no longer illegal aliens; it's now undocumented Democrats."
Cruz has been on the defensive since rival Marco Rubio turned his own vulnerability on immigration into an attack on the Texas senator. Rubio was a member of the so-called Gang of Eight that spearheaded the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform effort, a move that has since dogged him as the party has moved to the right on the hot-button issue. But the Florida senator has gone after Cruz for his own amendment to the bill that would have stripped out a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants but still allowed them to get legal status.
On Thursday, Cruz was emphatic about his views. "Let's have a moment of simple clarity: I oppose amnesty. I oppose citizenship. I oppose legalization," Cruz said. "I always have and I always will, and I challenge every other Republican candidate to say the same thing or, if not, to stop making silly assertions that their records and my records on immigration are the same. It is demonstrably false."
In 2013, Cruz said, his introduction of the amendment to "strip citizenship" from undocumented immigrants "laid naked the partisanship, the hypocrisy and the lies behind the proponents of the Rubio/[Chuck] Schumer amnesty plan," he said, lumping his presidential opponent together with the Democratic senator from New York.
"There is a reason why every other strong opponent of amnesty supported me in that amendment. Jeff Sessions and I were side by side," he said.
"It's one of the more ludicrous aspects, where the Rubio campaign is trying to claim, well, Cruz and Sessions opposed citizenship in the Gang of Eight bill, so therefore, they must have supported every other aspect of the Gang of Eight bill. That is utter nonsense. And by exposing the hypocrisy, by exposing their bluff, we won. We defeated amnesty. We beat it."
In commenting on the back-and-forth since Tuesday night's debate, Cruz deemed it "the establishment strikes back."
"We won that fight. We defeated amnesty, and they're furious. They're furious," he said, before carefully tying his Senate colleague and presidential foe to the Washington establishment. The year 2013, he said, paraphrasing Ronald Reagan, was a time for choosing.
"Now, Marco Rubio is a friend of mine; he's a wonderful communicator, he's a charming individual, he's very well-liked in Washington. Marco Rubio campaigned telling the people of Florida if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty," Cruz said, adding that he told voters the same thing during his 2012 Senate campaign. "But come 2013, we made very, very different decisions."
The Rubio campaign fired back at the remarks, calling attention to differences between Cruz's statements in 2013 and 2015.
"After the last few days, the only one who might have gotten bluffed by Senator Cruz in 2013 was Senator Cruz in 2015," a campaign spokesman said in a statement. "Proving yet again that he will say anything for political gain, Senator Cruz is only trying to cover up his support for legalization, which he proudly touted during the immigration debate, well after the immigration debate, from the Senate floor, in a Senate committee room, to reporters across the country, and to his fellow alumni at Princeton."
Rubio voted for, Cruz voted against, the rest of this is useless obuscation by the GOPE to divert attention off Rubio.
I don’t understand Rubio’s strategy. He seems to be saying “don’t vote for Cruz! He’s pro-amnesty, just like me!” This would have made more sense if a candidate other than Rubio was saying it. I just don’t see how saying “he sucks as much as I do” is a smart tactic.
They need to take it to Twitter.
I would feel sorrier for Cruz except he has brought this on himself by dancing around the subject for a year. His cutsey tutsey answer on immigration that we have to secure the border first and then have a “conversation” about what to do with the illegals who are here is just not cutting it anymore.
My personal belief/wish is that Cruz is for self deportation through enforcement. If so I cannot for the life of me understand why he won’t just spit it out. Its not the worse idea in the world. But he won’t. Look what it took at the Tuesday night debate to drag “I’m agains’t legalization” out of him. Not smart.
the GOPe becomes more like the left every day.
Rubio wants to be the Beating-a-dead-horse candidate.
The GOPe knows Rubio is highly vulnerable on this topic. The notion is to keep obfuscating and deflect hoping voters will think both candidate had the same position. If they accomplished that they immunize Rubio’s vulnerability on the issue.
Stick with cheering for trump, alright? The faux concern for Cruz is annoying.
They want to twist the politics of it to make Cruz appear deceitful in order to smear him, rather than defend Rubio’s record. The GOPE Rubio wing of the Republican party have gone full Alinsky. More proof the GOP is no longer interested in what the people believe in, its only about keeping power for themselves, and manipulating Republicans into believing they still stand for the party principles.
Cruz will win this debate have no doubt. We’re fed up. We’re gonna expose all of the traitors in the party and
primary them one by one.
I can’t figure out why Ted thinks it’s better to look dishonest now. Is it because Trump has made it acceptable to call for deportation?
Bottom line on this is now is he’ll never get much support from those who want an outsider.
I want this matter to be solved, and the only way it can be is for the two of them to do it...the media should stay out of it...Rush and Levin should stay out of it...this is something that is between them, we will find out, which as the voting public we will know....
Rubio is aiming his lies at low information voters who only read the headlines that he is creating. All they will see is Rubio accusing Cruz of being for amnesty.
“My personal belief/wish is that Cruz is for self deportation through enforcement”
It’s difficult to figure what he wants from one day to the next. He has stated in 2013 that he wasn’t for Romney’s ‘self deportation’.
“The amendment that I introduced removed the path to citizenship, but it did not change the underlying work permit from the Gang of Eight,†he said during a recent visit to El Paso. Cruz also noted that he had not called for deportation or, as Mitt Romney famously advocated, self-deportation.
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/13/immigration-cruz-aims-middle-ground/
If you don’t like that reference, there are others.
Moe you’re as dishonest as the sleeze on Rubio side.
Speak for yourself. I want an outsider, Ted Cruz.
Sessions supported the amendment too. You think Sessions is for legalization?
Wrong. But I’m certain you’re use to it.
I want a Trump/Cruz ticket.
It won’t matter what Cruz, or Sessions, or Lee, or the record, or their own conscious says, there are those who will never acknowledge the truth in this matter, for the simple reason they support another candidate in this primary race.
Cruz clearly states in his plan that he wants self-deportations, and forced deportations.
Your guy Trump says he wants deportations for the non criminals (as of July 24th 2015), but he seems obsessed with bringing them back.
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