Ted Cruz Advocated For Forced Deportation

Cruz: “You Better Believe” I Would Send Federal Law Enforcement To Undocumented Immigrants' Houses To Deport Them. On the February 22 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Cruz said “you better believe” that as president, he would have law enforcement “look for people who are violating the law,” and “apprehend them and deport them.” When pressed by host Bill O'Reilly on whether he would “look for them to get them out,” “round up twelve million illegal aliens” and “take [them] out and put [them] on a plane” home, Cruz responded, “You better believe it”:

BILL O'REILLY: Here's a policy question I need you to define for me tonight. 12 million illegal aliens here in America. Mr. Trump says he would deport them forcibly. The federal authorities would round them up and send them back home. Costs a lot of money but he says it's worth it because we just can't allow the law to be broken this way. Would you round up 12 million illegal aliens here and if so, how?

TED CRUZ: Listen. We should enforce the law. How do we enforce the law? Yes, we should deport them. We should build a wall. We should triple the border patrol. And federal law requires that anyone here illegally that is apprehended should be deported.

O'REILLY: Would you go look for them though? Mr. Trump would look for them to get them out. Would you do that if you were president?

CRUZ: Look. Bill, of course you would. That's what ICE exists for. We have law enforcement that looks for people who are violating the laws, that apprehends them and deports them.

[...]

O'REILLY: Wait, wait, wait. Just let me get this straight, because this is important, very important. So, I use the same example. So, Tommy O'Malley from County Cork in Ireland is over here and he overstays his visa and he's got a couple of kids and he's settled into Long Island. And, you, President Cruz are going to send the feds to his house, take him out and put him on a plane back to Ireland?

CRUZ: You better believe it. Now right now we actually can't do that, because we do not have a biometric exit-entry system. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/22/16]

Cruz Has Previously Rejected Idea Of Going “Door To Door” To Find And Deport Undocumented Immigrants

Cruz: Law Enforcement Won't Go Door To Door Because “We Don't Live In A Police State.” During the January 10 edition of CNN's State of the Union, in response to host Jake Tapper asking, “Will you have people going door to door rounding” undocumented immigrants up for deportation, Cruz ruled out the idea of a so-called deportation force, responding, “That's not actually how the American law enforcement system works. ... We don't live in a police state”:

JAKE TAPPER: Will you have people going door to door rounding people up?

TED CRUZ: Door to door, we don't have any system that knocks on the doors of every person in America. That is not actually how the American law enforcement system works. We also don't have people going door to door looking for murderers. We don't live in a police state. We do have law enforcement. How do we catch people? We catch them through things like E-Verify. We catch them through things like the criminal law enforcement system, where, in 2013, do you know how many criminal illegal aliens the Obama administration released?

[...]

CRUZ: We have law enforcement authorities that enforce our laws. Your question, you keep saying, are they going to knock on every door in America? No. 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. [CNN, State of the Union, 1/10/16]

Media Spotlighted How Cruz's “Marked Shift” “Runs Counter” To His Previous Position And “Matches The Tone Of Donald Trump”

CNN: Cruz's Comments “Stand In Stark Contrast From His Previous Rhetoric” About Deportation. A February 23 CNN article noted that Cruz's recent comments about deportation “stand in stark contrast from his previous rhetoric,” noting that his move “to a more aggressive deportation policy” is a reversal from a January interview where “Cruz had said he would not deploy a 'deportation force'” to search for undocumented immigrants:

Ted Cruz moved to a more aggressive deportation policy in an interview on Monday night, saying he would look for and deport undocumented immigrants using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, marking a change from a January interview with CNN.

[...]

Cruz's comments to O'Reilly stand in stark contrast from his previous rhetoric on the issue.

In a January interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Cruz had said he would not deploy a “deportation force,” as Trump as suggested he would do as president. [CNN, 2/23/16]

Huffington Post: Cruz's “Comments Represent An Escalation In Rhetoric” From His Previous Stance. A February 22 Huffington Post article noted that Cruz “has taken a page from Donald Trump's presidential campaign playbook” following the “escalation in rhetoric from a candidate who rejected the notion of a 'deportation force' of 'jackboots' last month”:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has taken a page from Donald Trump's presidential campaign playbook, hardening his rhetoric against undocumented immigrants.

Cruz told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Monday that yes, should he be elected president, his administration would deport all 12 million undocumented people estimated to be in the U.S. and wouldn't allow them to return.

[...]

The senator's comments represent an escalation in rhetoric from a candidate who rejected the notion of a “deportation force” of “jackboots” just last month, and lambasted the idea after it was proposed by GOP front-runner Trump. Cruz in January said such a policy would reflect “a police state,” adding, “That's not how we enforce the law for any crime.” [Huffington Post, 2/22/16]

Wash. Post: Cruz's Comments Are “A Marked Shift” From His Earlier Remarks. A February 22 Washington Post article explained that Cruz “significantly sharpened his stance on immigration” during his Fox News interview, noting that the comments are “a marked shift for Cruz, who had long avoided the question of what he would do with the millions of people living in the country illegally”:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) significantly sharpened his stance on immigration Monday, stating that he would find and deport the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

[...]

The statement is a marked shift for Cruz, who had long avoided the question of what he would do with the millions of people living in the country illegally. In December, Cruz said he opposes granting people here illegally legal status.

Just last month, Cruz said he opposes a special force to deport undocumented immigrants. The way to catch people, he said, is through things like the e-verify system and traditional law enforcement. [The Washington Post, 2/22/16]

NBC News: “Cruz's Response Runs Counter” To His Own Previous Comments. A February 23 NBC News article noted that “Cruz's response runs counter to his own comments” because previously Cruz “had only gone so far as to suggest that any undocumented immigrant apprehended should be detained. The article also noted that Cruz's ”position matches the tone of Donald Trump":

Ted Cruz asserted Monday night that he would “of course” support federal law enforcement agents actively looking for undocumented immigrants to deport.

“Of course you would,” Cruz told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. “That's what [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] exists for. We have law enforcement that looks for people who are violating the laws that apprehends and deports them.”

[...]

The position matches the tone of Donald Trump, who suggested to NBC News in November that there would be a “deportation force” under his presidency.

But Cruz's response runs counter to his own comments to CNN in January, when he dismissed a “deportation force” and said: “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.”

[...]

In previous months, Cruz had gone only so far as to suggest that any undocumented immigrant apprehended should be detained. He had yet to suggest law enforcement should actively look for undocumented immigrants. [NBC News, 2/23/16]

CNN's Alisyn Camerota: Cruz's “Flip Flop” Is “Taking A Page From Donald Trump's Playbook.” On the February 23 edition of CNN's New Day, co-host Alisyn Camerota sparred with a Cruz supporter, noting that “Ted Cruz himself had ... a seeming significant change of position last night” and that Cruz's “flip flop,” something “that struck many as him taking a page from Donald Trump's playbook,” is “something quite different than what he originally said”:

ALISYN CAMEROTA (HOST): Ted Cruz himself had a change of position or a seeming significant change of position last night. He went on Fox, and he talked about illegal immigration. He before last night had been saying that he did not believe in what Donald Trump was calling for, which was deporting all 12 million illegal immigrants here. Last night he seemed to say something quite different.

[...]

CAMEROTA: He went on to say yes he would deport and look for all 12 million people. Is that not a flip-flop?

BOB BARR: Well at least we're talking about a real issue rather than somebody whining about a campaign ad or something. These are the issues that we ought to be talking about. I think what the senator is saying here is that the federal government does have a responsibility to deport those who are here unlawfully. The senator has never said that he would send out a phalanx of law enforcement people looking into houses and so forth. But if in fact we do find and law enforcement does find individuals who are here unlawfully, absolutely they should be deported. And I think the senator is right in that regard.

CAMEROTA: Last night he seemed to be suggesting that he would allow ICE officers, federal agents, to go door-to-door if necessary and round up some of the 12 million people. He did seem to be changing, because Bill O'Reilly asked him that specifically, how would you do it, senator? And he said, yeah, would you go door to door? And Ted Cruz said yes. And that struck many as him taking a page from Donald Trump's playbook and something quite different than what he originally said. Do you see it as a flip-flop?

BARR: No, it's not a flip-flop. What we're talking about here is a very complex process of identifying and deporting those who are in this country unlawfully. And in certain circumstances where we know people or highly suspect people who are in communities, in businesses, such as those that the Obama administration has let into this country in violation of the law, then certainly we ought to identify them and remove them. I think the senator is absolutely correct on this.

CAMEROTA: I mean he's going a little further than what you are saying. He says we would have law enforcement look for people who are violating the law. Then we would have them -- then apprehend them and deport them. I mean he's going further than he has before.

BARR: I tell you, it's very easy to listen to one remark that somebody makes and pull out a little word here and there. But if you look at, I think very fairly, the whole range of what Senator Cruz is saying, it is a very comprehensive, very rational policy for identifying when you can and removing people who are here in this country unlawfully unlike the the current administration. That's the debate we ought to be having, not whining over some campaign ad. [CNN, New Day, 2/23/16]