Posted on 02/07/2016 8:45:29 PM PST by SoConPubbie
Yesterday I told you how Ted Cruz talked about building a wall months before Donald Trump announced his 2016 presidential candidacy.
That post was misleading, and I deeply apologize.
Because Ted Cruz was actually talking about a wall years before Trump announced.
YEARS.
Here’s Ted Cruz, July 17, 2012, during his run for the Texas Senate, supporting building a wall:
MODERATOR: Mr. Cruz. You were asked during April’s Belo Debate if you support building a fence the length of the U.S./Mexico border and here’s what you said.
MODERATOR: He supports building a wall along the entire Texas/Mexico border. Is that something that you would support? Yes, no, why? We’ll start with you, Mr. Cruz.
CRUZ: Yes. We have an illegal immigration crisis and we need to do everything humanly possible to secure the border. That means fences, that means walls…
[edit]
MODERATOR: [unintelligible] wall, you said you’d support a wall —
CRUZ: I said yes to that.
MODERATOR: — even if it infringes on property rights of Texans along the way.
CRUZ: Property owners should be compensated for that [edit]
MODERATOR: Is that still your position tonight, to build a fence the length of the Texas/Mexico border?
CRUZ: I think we need to use every tool humanly possible.
MODERATOR: And that is one of them?
CRUZ: Yes.
MODERATOR: Yes? OK. Do you have any idea how much it would cost?
CRUZ: I don’t know the specific cost but I can guarantee you it is far less than the cost of illegal immigration.
The moderator goes on to berate Cruz for supporting this despite the cost. Cruz sticks to his guns. That was July 17, 2012, and the debate clip used in the second debate was from April 13, 2012. Donald Trump’s latest presidential run was announced in June 2015.
This means Ted Cruz supported a wall years before Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid.
And here is Cruz again, from July 30, 2011, supporting a wall as part of a comprehensive strategy to secure the border:
QUESTIONER: Do you favor a path to citizenship for illegal aliens already in the U.S., stricter border enforcement, and/or the building of a border wall or some other policy or combination of policies?
CRUZ: There were a lot of questions in that piece. Let me lay out my position on immigration, because I can state it simply and in one sentence. I am strongly opposed to illegal immigration. I am categorically opposed to amnesty. And I strongly support legal immigrants who follow the rules and come here seeking to work towards the American dream.
Now with respect to securing the borders, I approach this from the perspective of someone who’s spent much of his adult life in law enforcement. It makes utterly no sense that we don’t know who’s coming into this country. We don’t know the criminal backgrounds. Our borders are largely unsecured. And particularly in a post-9/11 world, that is lunacy. I support any and all possible efforts to secure the border. That includes fences, that includes walls, that includes technology, that includes helicopters, that includes drones, that includes manpower, that includes employment verification, that includes approaching it as a law enforcement priority. And right now, neither party is serious about doing that.
With respect to a path to citizenship or amnesty, I categorically oppose it. And the reason is, I’ve spent a lifetime working to defend the constitution and uphold the rule of law. It is fundamentally unfair and contrary to the rule of law to reward those who break the law. And you know, one of the people it’s most unfair to are those that are following the laws. There are immigrants who wait years and even decades to come here legally. And yet what amnesty programs say is that we’re going to take those that have chosen to break the law, and we’re going to reward them rather than insist that people follow the law. I don’t think that’s fair, I don’t think that’s right, and I don’t support it.
Thanks to @mbhouse on Twitter (here and here) for the pointers.
Yes, talk is cheap, thus why it is so important to view "fruits". This video being one of them. Asking Jeff Sessions who stood with him vs. the Gang of Eight fight is another fruit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umhneqW41Ig
Wow .. guess Cruz’s positions changed when he helped Beck host that illegal immigrant welcome party ? What happened ?
The states have never delegated to Congress, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to appropriate taxes to build a border wall (corrections, insights welcome). (Note that Clause 3 of Section 10 of Article I shows that states reserved for themselves the power to engage in war if invaded.)
So Trumps plan to have Mexico pay for wall is arguably workable within the framework of the Constitution.
I’ve looked and looked - search hi and lo ... and even though Super Cruz is in the Senate 2 years, I just can’t find that wall he talked about ... Hmm, can you help me here? I’ll even loan you my super-duper binoculars with the secret spy decoder thingy!
To the contrary, I blame Cruz and every other member of Congress. They've all allowed what's happened, hiding in the numbers, making lame excuses.
The truth is Congress could stop much of this crap if they wanted. Republicans blame Democrats because that's what they do but they could go to the people, present the facts, tell us how they'd fight it and get this crap out in the open. But no, they just shrug helplessly and tell us they'll do better if they get the White House.
perhaps if you had cleaned the crap out of your ears, then you might have heard Trump explain the methods and devices he would employ to make Mexico pay for THE WALL. Must be all that Cruz bias clogging things up.
You can find it in the list of things Sessions outlined as Obama blocking through executive order. Sessions lists everything Obama did over immigration.
You remember Sessions, the congressman that said Cruz has stood by his side.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/02/16/sen-sessions-releases-lengthy-timeline-of-obama-administrations-dismantling-of-immigration-law/
You can blame Congress, but no honest person would blame Cruz.
Cruz Tries to Claim the Middle Ground on Immigration
FYI: The Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed overwhelmingly including Obama and Hillary voting for it. The fence was never built as Kay Bailey Hutchinson added an amendment later on that effectively neutered it by allowing local authorities to stop it.
“He’s in the US Senate, where’s the bill to build a wall?”
The Great Wall of Mexico long predates Ted Cruz in the Senate. President Bush began the construction of the wall in 2005-2006, and it had been proposed years before that. Cruz and Trump are talking about radically different ways of improving upon that wall and extending it.
Sorry, he's not the saint you envision.
Ted Cruz joins the establishment
Then he voted for cloture on TPA/fast track. That gave us the Iran deal, will give us TPP.
Right to the insults tonight I see.
Tell me how any of Trump’s plan is enforceable in international law? Gonna enforce an embargo on Mexico after liking the opening of Cuba?
We give Mexico 100 million in foreign aid now. Cut that by half for a few years...
I’m sure this guy is a lot more creative than I am. Well see...
Oh, like when Cruz was handing out soccer walls - er, I mean BALLS ... And TEDdy barriers - uh, no that’s not right ... BEARS, yeah, that’s it - TEDdy BEARS.
My name is TED, and I approved this spin, er-uh, message.
Trump STOLE the wall. Maybe he should give it back before he goes shooting off his mouth with cheap platitudes about other people stealing 'our' jobs and come up with concrete plans for getting them back. Trump hasn't done that. Ted Cruz has.
What was that you said about 'talk is cheap'?
There are very effective ways to achieve this ...
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