Heading into the Nevada Republican caucus, the most diverse presidential contest this year, Ted Cruz has vowed to use federal immigration officers to round-up and deport all 12 million undocumented immigration in the U.S.
“Yes, we should deport them,” Cruz told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. “We should build a wall, we should triple the Border Patrol. Federal law requires that anyone here illegally that’s apprehended should be deported.” Cruz added, “We have law enforcement that looks for people who are violating the laws, that apprehends them and deports them.”
Cruz’s statement comes as a surprise as he has been, in the past, very hesitant to state what he would do with undocumented immigrants. The senator mostly focused on border security and enforcing the laws already on the books. Five weeks ago, Cruz slammed rival Donald Trump’s idea of rounding up people in the country illegally.
“I don’t intend to send jackboots to knock on your door and every door in America. That’s not how we enforce the law for any crime,” Cruz said, according to the Dallas Morning News. In an email from his campaign, his spokesperson said that “Cruz has been very clear: people who are here illegally should be deported. That is the law today. Period. They broke the law, they face the consequence. ICE exists for that purpose and they should continue to do their job. And on top of that any law enforcement that encounters those here illegally should follow the law and deport them.”
Latinos make up 28 percent of Nevada and even though they are not expected to play a big role in the Republican caucus many say these hard-line stances by both Cruz and Trump won’t play well with Latino Republican caucus-goers. “Unfortunately, those two individuals are doing so much to create that tension and that skepticism that those who maybe have never voted before or that are now becoming U.S. citizens are leaning toward whoever the Democratic candidate would be,” Fernando Romero, of the nonpartisan Las Vegas group Hispanics in Politics, said.
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