Following his lambasting of the liberal media and the CNBC moderators during the last Republican debate on October 28, Republican Senator Ted Cruz took his latest swipe at the “mainstream media” in Tuesday’s Fox Business Network event for their coverage of illegal immigration and maligning those opposing amnesty.
Cruz started his takedown by first pointing out that “when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue.”
Instead, Cruz astutely mentioned that “for millions of Americans at home, watching this, it is a very personal economic issue” and made this humorous predication about how the media would cover the issue differently if a few factors were changed:
I will say the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation[.]
Speaking for those Americans tired of the liberal media’s line of thinking, Cruz continued:
I will say for those of us who believe people ought to come to this country legally and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told, it’s anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba to seek the American dream and we can embrace legal immigrations while believing in the rule of law and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China or Japan. Try going into Mexico. See what they do.
The relevant portion of the transcript from FBN’s Republican Presidential Candidates Debate on November 10 can be found below.
FBN’s Republican Presidential Candidates Debate
November 10, 2015
9:40 p.m. Eastern
REPUBLICAN SENATOR TED CRUZ (Tex.): Now, I want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right, the Democrats are laughing because if Republicans join Democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose — and you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue, but I can tell you for millions of Americans at home, watching this, it is a very personal economic issue and I will say the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation and I will say for those of us who believe people ought to come to this country legally and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told, it’s anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba to seek the American dream and we can embrace legal immigrations while believing in the rule of law and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China or Japan. Try going into Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws and we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hard-working men and women. That is abandoning the working men and women.
