As President Joe Biden faces growing criticism over what could be the biggest migrant surge at the southwest border in two decades, Republicans are trying to channel former President Donald Trump’s stout defense of immigration control without repeating what many voters saw as a too-harsh tone on the issue.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, called the conditions faced by migrant children intercepted at the border “tragic” and “horrific” after touring one of the facilities at which they are being housed. “In one enormous room, there are 2,200 cots. Each set out about 6 feet apart from one another. So, by any measure, conditions are better here than they are down at the border,” Cruz said after visiting a Dallas convention center where unaccompanied minors are currently staying.