Post links.
Sorry for the delay:
Okay, so Rubio accused Cruz of having supported an expansion of H1B visas and of legalizing illegal aliens. Cruz called these claims entirely false, and his surrogates have claimed that Cruz didn't actually support the bill in any way, but just offered his amendment to prove that Dems weren't serious about reform and just wanted to give citizenship to illegals. Legalization here is to be distinguished from granting citizenship, which you do not need to give to permanent residents (but which they'll inevitably get anyway).
So, did Cruz not support immigration reform, and did he oppose legalization like he claims? Let's see.
The following is a short transcript from a video that was produced after Team Cruz denied they supported legalization earlier in the year, and was generally ignored at the time:
"And I'd like to make a final point to those advocacy groups that are very engaged in this issue and rightly concerned about addressing our immigration system, and in particular about addressing the situation for the 11 million who are currently in the shadows. If this amendment is adopted to the current bill the effect would be that those 11 million under this current bill would still be eligible for RPI status.** They would still be eligible for legal status and indeed under the terms of the bill they would be eligible for LPR status as well, so that they are out of the shadows, which the proponents of this bill repeatedly point to as their principle objective -- to provide a legal status for those who are here illlegally to be out of the shadows. This amendment would allow that to happen.
And a second point to those advocacy groups that are so passionately engaged. In my view if this committee rejects this amendment, and I think everyone here views it as quite likely this committee will choose to reject this amendment, in my view that decision will make it much, much more likely that this entire bill will fail in the House of Representantives. I don’t want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass, and so I would urge people of good faith on both sides of the aisle, if the objective is to pass common sense immigration reform that secures the borders, that improves legal immigration, and that allows those who are here illegally to come in out of the shadows, then we should look for areas of bipartisan agreement and compromise to come together and this amendment --I believe if this amendment were to pass the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically, and so I would urge the committee to give it full consideration and to adopt the amendment."
Ted Cruz Amnesty Round II: The Telltale Video
Does this sound, as the blogger notes, "like someone using a parliamentary device merely to smoke out the Democratic position, or someone sketching "middle ground" legislation he supports?"
Cruz has also declared during that time period:
"The American people are overwhelmingly unified that, number one, we need to secure the border," he added. "And, number two, any bill that this body passes should have border security first and then legalization, not the other way around."
Ted Cruz blasts Gang of Eight Bill
From the Texas Tribune in September of 2013:
"What Mr. Cruz has tried to articulate in both word and deed is a middle ground. It got no support from Democrats in Washington, but it goes further than many on the far right want to go by offering leniency to undocumented immigrants here already: A path to legal status, but not to citizenship. A green card with no right to naturalization.
Immigration-reform legislation from the Senate's so-called Gang of Eight passed that chamber in June and includes a 13-year path to citizenship. Mr. Cruz pushed unsuccessfully for amendments that would have, among other things, eliminated the citizenship component.
Asked about what to do with the people here illegally, however, he stressed that he had never tried to undo the goal of allowing them to stay.
"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. Mr. Cruz also noted that he had not called for deportation or, as Mitt Romney famously advocated, self-deportation." Cruz Tries to Claim Middle Ground on Immigration
In March of THIS YEAR, MSNBC, wondering if he had changed position, caught up with Cruz and asked him what his current position on legalization is, since he had spoken against a short lived legalization proposal from the House:
"Asked by msnbc about where Cruz stands now on legalization, campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said that the senator has been "consistent" and confirmed that the views he expressed in the Tribune had not changed. She described his amendment to the Senate "gang of eight" bill as an effort "to improve a very bad bill" that he ultimately opposed.
While Frazier said Cruz fought the bill's path to citizenship because it "flies in the face of the rule of law," she declined to apply the same label when asked about legal status in the right circumstances. "I think his main priority is dealing with the border security component and making sure that we know who is coming into the country and making sure that we have control over who is coming into the country and then we can deal with what to do with the people who are already here," she said.
Cruz Hasn't Ruled out Legal Status for Undocumented Immigrants
So it appears Cruz considers anything that does not include sufficient border enforcement first to be amnesty, but from 2013 to 2015 never actually opposed legalization "under the right circumstances," which he does not define as amnesty. The spokesman affirmed that his position from the 2013 Texas Tribune article (posted above) had not changed, but that his focus was primarily on border security first.
Starting after March, however, where immigration became a bigger deal, Cruz stopped giving direct answers to whether or not he supported legalization:
CHUCK TODD: You still didn't say what you'd do with the 11 million.
TED CRUZ: Well, my view is first, we secure the borders and solve the problem of illegal immigration. And then I think we can have a conversation about what to do about the people who remain here. I don’t think the American people will accept any solution until we demonstrate step number one, we can secure the border.
CHUCK TODD: So anything's on the table? Potentially deportation or not deportation, but anything's on the table for the 11 million--
TED CRUZ: I think we should secure the border and then have a conversation at that point. Stop using the Washington approach of I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. The American people aren’t going for it.
This pattern continued in interviews after this, such as with Megyn Kelly later in the year.
(I'll also note that Scott Walker was also using this "we'll have a conversation" rhetoric around the same exact time, which made me think the GOP actually got together to try that line of argument.)
In November, Cruz was accused by the Rubio campaign of having supported legalization and expanding H1-B programs, saying that Cruz "proposed legalizing people that were here illegally. He proposed giving them work permits. He's also supported a massive expansion of the green cards. He supported a massive expansion of the H-1B program... so, if you look at it, I don’t think our positions are dramatically different."
Cruz's Pro-American Immigration Reform Plan Shows He's not Marco Rubio
The Ted Cruz campaign responded that these accusations were blatantly false, and that Cruz was merely using a trick to sabotage a bad bill he never supported. He then released an immigration plan either a day or two days after Rubio's charges, essentially to demonstrate that he's strong on immigration. However, Cruz's team apparently continued to give news outlets the same "We'll have a conversation later" statements with regards to legalization:
"While Cruz may not support legalization, he hasn't definitively ruled it out. His position, his campaign said, is that he'll refuse to even discuss what to do with the undocumented population until the border is secure."
Did Cruz Actually Support Legal Status?
"Texas Sen. Ted Cruz declined to close the door to a potential pathway to legal status for the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally Friday, saying he wouldn't elaborate on his plans for them until after the border is secure."
Cruz Won't Rule out Legalization
So, is Ted Cruz and his team being honest with his supporters when he rails against amnesty and accuses Team Rubio of "blatant falsehood"?
Well, you be the judge.