Video: Ted Cruz Was Talking About a Wall YEARS Before Trump

Patterico's Pontifications ^ | Patterico

[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:

Watch HERE!

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.

[SoConPubbie]

	"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton "We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792 "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams " Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." - John Quincy Adams

[sparklite2]

Talk is cheap.

[bigbob]

He’s in the US Senate, where’s the bill to build a wall?

Doesn’t matter anyway, Trump OWNS The Wall.

[DoughtyOne]

I’ve lost count. How many bills did Cruz introduce to build a 60’ high wall that Mexico would pay for?

Thanks in advance.

[exist]

This is so silly. Ted Cruz moderated his position significantly after 2013 to prep for 2016. He very much toned down the rhetoric and hardly ever brought up the wall.

Trump has obviously flip-flopped all over the place on the issue.

Nobody is clean. Everyone flip-flopped. Everyone is fudging the truth. Supporters are twisting words to try to defend their candidate.

[SeaHawkFan]

Legislation was passed many years ago to build 700 miles of the wall. Obama simply ignored the law and refused to build it. Can’t blame that on Cruz.

[SpaceBar]

Cruz would have a hard time winning employee of the month in a flyover country walmart. He looks stupid, and will lose to Hillary.

[jazusamo]

Duh. I and many friends have talked about a wall for years...So?

[5thGenTexan]

Talk is cheap for Trump, too. Just how does he make Mexico pay for a wall that kills their second largest GDP producer? Bully tweets?

[Jane Long]

Trump/Wall 2016

[Kenny]

Makes the point that without Trump, Cruz will never get his ideas out there. Besides, other than playing victim, what has he done in the Senate. I mean what has he done besides pushing for TPA with Paul Ryan:

Ted Cruz joins the establishment

And oh yeah, voting for TPA cloture. But I digress.

[Mollypitcher1]

Yup, a great BIG BEAUTIFUL WALL!!! (Maybe we’ll put TRUMP on the doors just to rub it in.) And Mexico will pay wfor the wall, with Ford’s help, of course.

[mbrfl]

Cruz was asked if he agreed with someone else’s proposal to build a wall. This was his answer:

“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.”

Typical politician answer. He didn’t propose to build a wall on his own. He was just responding to someone else’s suggestion to build a wall, the way all good politicians respond - with a CYA answer. Notice how the question about building a wall subtley shifts in Cruz’s response to “...that means fences, that means walls”. Anyone except the perpetually gullible can see the wiggle room he leaves himself with that answer. He’s a good lawyer.

So we’re to believe that building a wall has always been something Cruz has been committed to from this little exchange? Why did it take him so long to mention it again? Cruz has been against amnesty as well as being in favor of having a discussion about it; against fighting birthright citizenship, and well as being in favor of ending it. Cruz has been all over the board on illegal immigration. Pretty pathetic of Patterico to try to claim that this interview proves that a President Cruz would build a wall, or that Cruz has been a leader on this issue.

[nopardons]

Blah...blah....blah....so WHERE is the WALL ?

He NEVER brought it up when he landed in the Senate!

Guess that's how he'll do as president too...just blah, blah, blah, and yet more blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Talking being the operative word here.

Trump is a doer.

[CA Conservative]

Cruz was campaigning on building a wall and tripling the Border Patrol back in 2011-2012. Back then, Trump was still calling Romney mean for wanting to use “self-deportation” or attrition through enforcement to remove illegals.

[nopardons]

Right....Ted will vote for something and then claim he dikdn't, then say it was for a different reason and get someone else to agree with that lie.

Cruz is all talk and NO hat!

He's a damned LIAR and has situational ethics to boot.

[map]

The Secure Fence Act of 2006's goal is to help secure America’s borders to decrease illegal entry, drug trafficking, and security threats by building 700 miles (1,100 km) of physical barriers along the Mexico-United States border. Additionally, the law authorizes more vehicle barriers, checkpoints, and lighting as well as authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to increase the use of advanced technology like cameras, satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles to reinforce infrastructure at the border.[1] Congress approved $1.2 billion in a separate homeland security spending bill to bankroll the fence, though critics say this is $4.8 billion less than what’s likely needed to get it built. from Wikipedia

You are exactly right. Talk is cheap. Congressional action is even cheaper. This law was signed by GWB a decade ago.

What we need to get it done is leadership.

[nopardons]

Cruz just talks and obfuscates and rides on other people’s ideas. He’s a do nothing whinger and a FRAUD.

[lewislynn]

Ted Cruz Was Talking About a Wall YEARS Before Trump

So says the man with not one legislative accomplishment...not one.

All talk and no action.