Ted Cruz’s ambivalent stance on immigration has received more scrutiny, especially as Marco Rubio has challenged him on it.
A new video from NowThis News shows Rubio’s critique of Cruz’s wavering immigration arguments.
Cruz hasn’t been clear on his immigration position. That has been intentional. “He’s a lawyer, not a leader. He chose his words exquisitely so that down the road—say, in a future campaign for president—he could position himself on either side of the immigration debate. And he delivered, with angelic piety, speeches that he now claims were lies,” William Saletan wrote for Slate in a Cruz campaign analysis.
Cruz has staked out an immigration position that wants to “enforce the laws” and spend more for border security. At one point, he supported expanding legal immigration, but has turned against it. During the immigration debate in 2013, Cruz attempted to modify the immigration bill in the Senate to allow lawful permanent resident status for undocumented immigrants, but prohibit it to lead to citizenship.
A timeline from Slate parses the nuances of Cruz’s position to explain his thinking.
Cruz now promises to “secure the border once and for all,” “stop illegal immigration,” and “halt any increase in legal immigration so long as American unemployment remains unacceptably high.”
As vague as Cruz has been on immigration, Rubio has tacked a similar line. Rubio was involved in developing the immigration reform bill in 2013 that would have developed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increase legal immigration.
Since then, though, Rubio has faced accusations of flip-flopping as he tried to distance himself from the reform plan. Like Cruz, Rubio is reluctant to increase legal immigration at this point.
“The entire system of legal immigration must now be reexamined for security first and foremost,” Rubio said in the last Republican debate.
A new campaign ad from Rubio emphasizes his turn. He promises to fight amnesty, cut funding for “sanctuary cities,” and deport more undocumented immigrants.
Cruz and Rubio, as the Latino candidates for the Republican nomination, offer the GOP a chance to present an immigration approach that seems more personal the the other Republican candidates. Both of them, however, have been extraordinarily cautious in outlying their thoughts on the issue. For Cruz, that has meant careful wording that allows him flexibility in painting his beliefs as consistent. For Rubio, he has crafted his past as an attempt to bring order and security to a “chaotic” immigration system.
For two candidates who spend a lot of time on the campaign trail talking about immigration, their actual policy proposals remain, somehow, unclear.
