He has come out (in some cases long ago) in favor of everything you wished for, with one exception, that being immediate deportation.
Cruz's position on that is more nuanced, as he is in favor of deportation but there needs to be a solidly protected border and closure of visa loopholes before anything else, and he's open to discussing all of it, after these things are done. He is not against deportations..
He might want to bring those long ago positions to the forefront. And forget about nuance if he wants to compete with the maniacal Trump who is single-handedly with no net and no big donors running away with the show.