Discusses ongoing debate on border security, illegal immigration, and bipartisan efforts
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today participated in a Q&A with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) Annual Policy Orientation. There, Sen. Cruz discussed the need for border security and his bipartisan efforts including the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act, among other issues.
When asked about the ongoing debate on border security, Sen. Cruz discussed his recent visit to the Texas-Mexico border with the president.
“I think the overwhelming majority of Texans want to see common sense, real border security,” Sen. Cruz said. “Yesterday, I think, was very productive. John and I both flew down with the president. We spent the day with the president on the border. It started with a roundtable. We heard from a number of stakeholders, heard from border patrol and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”
Sen. Cruz also noted the human tragedy that occurs with illegal immigration.
“We heard from families who had lost family members to criminal illegal aliens,” Sen. Cruz said. “And I think it did a very good job of putting a human face on the real tragedies that occur from an unsecured border, that occur from not screening who comes into this country and having far too many illegal aliens with serious criminal records and the people who pay the price for that. We also saw vast quantities of drugs that have been seized at the border – whether heroin or fentanyl. We saw 560 pounds of marijuana that had been seized at the border. And that again takes a real toll not to mention all of the children, all of the women, who are brought in for human trafficking, who are facing physical abuse, who are facing sexual abuse. And I think the roundtable did a terrific job of making clear this is about people. And I fully believe that anyone who is compassionate, who cares about fellow human beings should not want to see even a single little boy or a single little girl in the custody of human traffickers. That is not a humane situation.”
When asked whether there are any issues on the horizon to unite Republicans and Democrats, Sen. Cruz noted his three bipartisan bills that were signed into law, including his NICA Act, human shields bill, and bipartisan Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act.
“It’s actually an interesting story [on the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act],” Sen. Cruz said. “Doug [Sen. Jones] was standing there talking about his legislation and I was sitting in the presiding chair and he talked about legislation being focusing on cold cases from the Civil Rights Era – so church bombings, racially motivated murders that happened in the 1950s or the 1960s that are unsolved. Sadly in our country, there is a horrific record of some bigoted, racially motivated violence that has never been solved. What this legislation does is seeks to make public those records to enable people, to enable citizens, to go do research, to enable journalists to go do research and see if you can solve a murder that happened 50 years ago – see if that information can track down whoever committed that crime. And so I listened to Doug’s speech and after he finished I went up and said, ‘That makes a hell of a lot of sense. Why don’t we join together and get it passed?’ And so we did. We passed it through the Senate, passed it through the House and just two days ago President Trump signed it into law.”
Watch the full Q&A here.