Yesterday we wrote about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’s apparent belief that citizenship is a “poison pill” for immigration reform, and argued that Ted Cruz is the real poison pill–if the GOP takes his advice.
Today, Cruz was in Lubbock, Texas, for one of the last days of the Easter Congressional recess, where DREAMers with the DRM Action Coalition confronted him and demanded that he support immigration reform with a path to citizenship.
During the event, Cruz–according to a DRM press statement–spoke about how Congress should work in a “bipartisan way to finally pass comprehensive immigration reform,” going into the usual Republican talking points about “supporting legal immigration” and how “people who immigrate legally chose to be Americans.”
Diana Ixtlamati, 23, an undocumented student at Texas Tech University, took issue with his statement, telling Cruz, “I am a DREAMer, but I consider myself an American. In your eyes, what does that make me?”
The DREAMers also reminded Cruz that Texas Latinos are slowly helping to turn the state blue, and Republicans who are on the wrong side of immigration will pay for that stance dearly in the years to come.
As Ixtlamati said, “Texas Latino voters voted for immigration reform that protects families. And Texas DREAMers will continue to pressure Sen. Cruz to ensure he listens to Texas families, not the Tea Party.”
Marco Malagon, another DREAMer, told Cruz that a majority of Americans support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Malagon urged him to be a champion on immigration and further challenged on Sen Cruz’s call for more enforcement, pointing to studies indicating that Texas border cities are among the safest in the country, and the recent Migration Policy Institute report finding that the US already spends $18 million on immigration enforcement every year.
Watch video of their encounter with Cruz:
