Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican, was reportedly almost seething with wrath on Thursday after a reporter made the implication that Republicans aren’t doing their part to improve the border.
On Thursday, as Title 42 was coming to an end, Cruz was in Texas. A reporter approached him about what the GOP was doing to address the situation.
On May 12, at midnight, when Title 42 came to an end, a massive influx of migrants arrived at the southern border.
“Let me ask you something, what rate of illegal immigration did we have in 2020? Do you know anything? I asked you a question. Do you know anything?” Cruz said during an altercation with a reporter.
@tedcruz excoriates reporter for asking what Republicans have done to ease the southern border crisis.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Cruz says, citing the record-low number of crossings during the Trump years. @dcexaminer pic.twitter.com/sJFtp8Lpym
— Kaelan Deese (@KaelanDC) May 12, 2023
“How long have you been in office?” a reporter asked him.
“I’ve been in office 11 years,” the Senator responded.
“You don’t get to argue with me, you asked your question, you asked your question, you wanna hold a press conference you can do it over there,” Cruz fired back as the reporter was attempting to interrupt him.
“But hold on, I want to answer his question. The talking point of the Democrats, which this media reporter happily parrots, is ‘gosh, the problem can’t be fixed.’ There’s one little problem with that, it is an utter and complete lie. In 2020, the last year of the Trump presidency, we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.” The Senator said.
“You ask what I have done? I’ve championed the men and women of border patrol, I’ve championed securing the border, I’ve championed ‘Remain in Mexico’ and we turned this problem around and solved it and we went from Joe Biden inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years and the first day in office he made political decisions to cause this problem and you should be ashamed of yourself because you’re a reporter and you’re not reporting facts. You’re telling people lies!” He continued.
A bill by House Republicans that would have required that there be enough border patrol personnel on duty and that a strategy be developed to enhance existing technology to ensure agents have what they need was passed only hours before the policy’s conclusion.
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