Trump administration considers tearing families apart again despite most Texans opposing policy
AUSTIN, TX—Ahead of tonight’s second Senate debate between Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Ted Cruz, America’s Voice believes it imperative that Senator Ted Cruz be asked one important question: Will he enable President Trump’s policy of family separation, given the reports that his administration is seriously considering reinstituting that policy?
As Politico’s Ted Hesson notes:
The Trump administration is considering ways to deter a soaring number of families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border — including once again separating parents and children.”
And Sen. Cruz has been a proponent of separating families, initially saying, “When you see Democrats saying, ‘Don’t separate kids from their parents, what they’re really saying is don’t arrest illegal aliens.'”
But as soon as the heartbreaking images and videos of children on their own and in tent cities, Sen. Cruz then said “All of us are horrified at the images we’re seeing.” Cruz also said he talked with the White House about legislation he introduced to stop family separations. This is a national crisis, but Texas plays a central role in this debate, given the tent city where children are being detained is in Tornillo, and the Rio Grande Valley remains a major point of entry for many of those seeking refuge.
And as new polling from the Washington Post/ABC News has shown, Trump’s inhumane policies on immigration have hurt Republicans among voters.
- On the question, “which party do you trust to do a better job handling immigration,” the poll finds that Democrats hold a 50-38% advantage over Republicans — and a 57-32% margin among women.
- A greater share of Democratic voters say that immigration is an important issue in determining their vote this year: 74% say immigration is important; 26% say the issue is “one of the single most important issues.”
- For Republicans, 71% say immigration is important, but only half as many GOP voters — 13% — say it is “one of the single most important issues.”
Mario Carrillo, America’s Voice Texas State Director issued the following statement,
Ted Cruz has made it clear that he will not support immigrants, despite the fact that the majority of Texans don’t want family separations and do want protections for immigrant youth. His anti-immigrant campaign ads are straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook and only sow further division to distract us from the fact that as Senator, Ted Cruz has done little for the people of Texas. On the issue of taking children from their parents, Cruz has taken different positions, but we don’t really know where he stands. Texans deserve an answer.
