Ted Cruz continued his fight with Marco Rubio over immigration and the Florida senator's initial support of the Gang of Eight bill, which died in 2013.
The Texas senator told CNN's Dana Bash that "border security is national security."
"He has attempted to muddy the waters," Cruz said of Rubio. "But I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. ... There was a time for choosing, as Reagan put it, where there was a battle over amnesty, and some chose to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border."
Cruz then pivoted to tie the immigration issue to national security, arguing that the proposed immigration plan in 2013 had inadequate vetting, including the lack of mandated background checks for those entering the country.
"This issue is directly connected to what we've been talking about because he front line with ISIS isn't just in Iraq and Syria, it's in Kennedy Airport and the Rio Grande," Cruz said. "Border security is national security, and one of the most troubling aspects of the Rubio-Schumer Gang of Eight bill is it gave President Obama blanket authority to admit refugees, including Syrian refugees, without mandating any background checks whatsoever. Now we have seen what happened in San Bernardino when you are letting people in and the FBI can't vet them, it puts American citizens at risk.
"I tell you if i'm elected president, we will secure the border. We will triple the border patrol," Cruz said. "We will build a wall that works and I'll get Donald Trump to pay for it."
