Why is it so hard to figure out what Ted Cruz actually believes should be done about illegal immigration? When the Texas senator, through the help of radio host Laura Ingraham, zeroed in on Marco Rubio’s involvement drafting and supporting the Gang of 8’s comprehensive immigration reform plan in the Senate, he brought up for discussion his rival’s single biggest weakness in the Republican presidential primary. Rubio has not yet had a full reckoning over his support and subsequent departure from the Gang’s proposal, so Cruz, sensing both senators are on the rise in the primary, made a calculated move to strike.
The Rubio campaign, however, was ready to argue that supporting immigration reform wasn’t just Rubio’s weakness. Yes, Rubio had supported the 2013 bill, which would have created a pathway to citizenship for some illegals currently in the country while expanding the number of legal immigrants. But Cruz, Rubio told reporters, wasn’t all that different. Cruz had, in fact, proposed a path to legalization, said Rubio, whose campaign pointed to an amendment Cruz offered that would have barred anyone on the path to legalization under the Gang’s bill from ever receiving citizenship. The amendment (along with four other amendments Cruz proposed in the Judiciary committee, like one to beef up border security) failed, but not before Cruz made what sounds like a case for improving the Gang’s bill:
