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Texas: The Issue Is - June 9, 2024
The 'Texas Trio' discusses the latest in Texas politics on this edition of "Texas: The Issue Is."
HOUSTON - Three and half years deep into his Presidency and 154 days from the November election, Joe Biden issued "get tough" executive orders aimed at better securing the Southern border.
It is an issue central to the race for U.S. Senate in the Lone Star State.
SUGGESTED: Biden crackdown on border labeled both 'repressive' & 'too late'
"Texas-The Issue Is" sought and received reaction from both contenders.
"I have also been critical of this administration and I think they should have acted sooner. I'm glad to see some action, but this is going to have to be a congressional responsibility. We haven't acted in a comprehensive way, in terms of the Congress, since the Reagan era. We have to have leaders in place who will actually address this and will find and do the hard work of finding common ground for us to secure the border, make the immigration system meet the needs of our economy and to make sure we take care of the needs of the people who are here, particularly dreamers who are contributing and need to have a pathway. What I have seen from Ted Cruz is someone who wants to talk about the issue, who wants to use it as a campaign issue, but doesn't and will never be part of trying to solve it," said Congressman Colin Allred, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas.
Incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz calls Biden's bid to lower illegal crossings an election year, a ploy.
"Listen, I think Americans, and especially Texans, are very aware of what's happening at the Southern border. It is a full on invasion and the border of a magnitude we have never had anything close to. Where is Colin Allred? He's not down on the border saying, isn't this great. Look, human traffickers bringing people in. People are suffering and dying, and when you see it, you can't defend it. It is cruel and it's wrong and it needs to stop. So, between now and Election Day, do I think the Biden administration is going to try and play some politics and try to decrease the numbers at the border a little bit so they can say nah the problem is solved? Probably, but I think their view is that American voters are gullible. I don't think that's right. I don't think people are stupid," said Cruz.
On the deeply divisive issue of U.S. support for Israel in the war against Hamas, there is substantial separation between the contenders with Allred promoting a peaceful resolution and eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
"I certainly have had some concerns with the conduct of the war, and what I think we need to find now is a way towards an agreement to end this conflict, and to find a pathway forward for Palestinians and Israelis where we have an independent Palestinian state next to a peaceful Democratic Jewish state in Israel. That has to be end goal, and the United States has a really important role to play in shaping that outcome. But we have to do it, I think, in a way that brings this conflict to an end where Hamas will no longer be in power, that will also offer some kind of pathway forward, some kind of hope that there can be an alternative," said Allred.
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Senator Cruz is far less committed to conciliation than he is to delivering Israel the weapons needed to eliminate an existential threat emanating from Gaza or anywhere else.
"I think this is a battle between good and evil. I think this is a battle between civilization and barbarism. As for me, I strongly and unequivocally support Israel and I believe the people of Texas do as well. Israel is in the right here, they are trying to kill terrorists who are trying to kill civilians. This war would end tomorrow if Hamas would lay down their weapons and stop fighting. Hamas is not going to. They are going to try to continue to murder innocent civilians as long as those terrorists are still there. Hamas is literally using Palestinian mothers and babies as human shields to protect their terrorists, and they are counting on the global media to use those casualties to attack and demonize Israel. Hamas doesn't want to just murder Israelis. They want to murder Americans as well."