Posted on 01/13/2016 7:50:29 PM PST by Isara
"You saw the federal government sending stormtroopers with machine guns to grab a six-year-child whose mother had died trying to give him freedom and instead for us to send him back to Fidel Castro."
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz emphasized on a podcast on Tuesday his policy on immigration would be to deport those in the country illegally while adding he believes it was wrong for the Clinton administration to send Elian Gonzalzes - the child famously at the center of a heated custody battle between his Cuban father and Miami-based relatives - back to Cuba in 2000.
Cruz made the comments speaking to Fox News podcaster Todd Starnes in the context of his recent comments that he wouldn't have a deportation force to remove undocumented immigrants but would have law enforcement remove lawbreakers.
"The media are who they are," he told Starnes. "They have their agenda and they try to push it. I think any conservative has to understand that, and just be willing to speak the truth with a smile. At the same time in that, there was astonishment expressed when I said that we should enforce the law. Like why would the president possibility enforce the law? For me, I'm a Constitutionalist. The Constitution is my touchstone. Article II of the Constitution says the president must quote 'take care to faithfully enforce the law.' Federal immigration law says if someone is apprehended here illegally, they must be deported."
"As president that's exactly what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna enforce the law. We are going to deport those here illegally, secure the borders, and keep this country safe," he continued. "And that astonishes many in the media but it should be the president's responsibility, especially in an age of terror."
Cruz emphasized the frontline of terror was both in airports and the southern border. Turning to Gonzalez, who was returned to Cuba after a long custody battle, the Texas senator emphasized the episode as a sad chapter in American history.
"I suspect you are referring to Elian Gonzalez, who they actually sent goons in to snatch a six-year-old boy and wrongly return him to an oppressive Communist dictatorship. That was a sad day for America when you saw the federal government sending stormtroopers with machine guns to grab a six-year-child whose mother had died trying to give him freedom and instead for us to send him back to Fidel Castro."
The way the definition of Natural Born Citizen is being watered down, Elian might have grown up to be president of the US if he hadn’t been sent back to Cuba.
The relatives here were a bunch of nuts...parading him around like a circus act.
But the goons showing up....There was absolutely no excuse for that.
That is one of the greatest shots in the history of photo-journalism.
Wait, I thought HRC was opposed to deportation at gunpoint?
The Last Time a Democrat President Ever Deported anyone...
This is a liberal litmus test.
You pass.
You are liberal.
Wasn’t politically expedient at the time.
Any way the wind blows...
I wonder if they even included him in the 12 Million Clinton deported.
it’s never too late.
Didn’t most polls at the time show that the American people had no sympathy to speak of for Elian?
sounds like cruz has made a deal with gope devils - little cruz Heidi hood probably had a hand in it
No. Gore was running for POTUS and even he tried to disassociate himself from Clinton Administration on this one.
We were disgusted that he was being paraded around like a circus act. His relatives were nut cases.
No. Gore was running for POTUS and even he tried to disassociate himself from Clinton Administration on this one. people thought this was terrible. Court ruled since his mother died getting him over here, he had to be with his father.
Notice the Feds went to great lengths to “rescue” Elian meanwhile the Ffed did nothing to help rescue Americans in Libya fighting terrorists...
Didn’t mean to put the extra F in front of Fed but will leave it cause its somehow apporpiate!
Whatever mental condition his relatives where allegedly in there was still no excuse for ripping him away at gun point.
"As president that's exactly what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna enforce the law. We are going to deport those here illegally, secure the borders, and keep this country safe," he continued.
That must be what you're referring to, right?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.