Ted Cruz tried to separate himself from Marco Rubio on immigration reform during Tuesday night’s Republican debate, saying he "never supported legalization." But Fox News host Brett Baier grilled him Wednesday on statements he made in support of Rubio's 2013 immigration reform bill, which would have provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Cruz did offer an amendment that would have allowed the undocumented to become legal but not to "naturalize," or become full citizens. He now paints that amendment as a "poison pill" that helped kill the deal. But he was working awfully hard to expand the number of employer-based green cards and H-1B visas for a bill he was supposedly trying to doom.
And that’s certainly not what Cruz said at the time. From the clip Fox played of him at the Judiciary Committee in 2013:
"I don't want immigration reform to fail, I want immigration reform to pass," Cruz said, urging his colleagues to find "areas of agreement" that would allow "those who are here illegally to come out of the shadows."
That's where Baier jumped in.
"It sounded like you wanted the bill to pass," he told Cruz.
After a brief pause, Cruz responded, "Of course I wanted the bill to pass — my amendment to pass."
Baier then said that Cruz told reporters at the time that his amendment was not meant to be a “poison pill” to tank immigration reform.
"You said you wanted it to pass at the time. Looking back at what you said then, and what you’re saying now, which one should people believe?" Baier asked.
Naturally, Cruz said his amendment helped defeat the bill. That's nonsense. The guy clearly supported legalization.