psalazar9@satx.rr.com
Excerpt from Navarrette, below: As someone whose community has entered the United
States on a red carpet, thanks to that Cold War relic known as the Cuban Adjustment Act
of 1966, Cruz ought to tread lightly with immigrants and refugees. Instead, he comes
across as Cuban-American royalty telling less worthy peasants from Mexico and Central
America to eat flan. It looks like Ruben Navarrette, previously the blind-lovepromoter of
the disoriented Cubanito Ted Cruz, finally woke up to face reality. I hope our
legislators will close the much-abused legal loop-hole act which allows every Cuban who
swims ashore in Florida, to remain untouched.. or open the door to everybody.
Strangely enough, most of them become republicans. Ted Cruz was described by John
McCain as a wacko bird. For once, I agree with McCain. Placido
Salazar
Forwarded message
From: Joe Lopez <jlopez8182@satx.rr.com>
To All: As someone who has supported Ruben Navarrette for his defending Ted Cruz
political career, I respect Mr. Navarrettes honesty in reporting his great disappointment in
Ted Cruz. He effectively criticizes the way the senator and his supporters have turned the
humanitarian issue on the border into a political weapon theyre now using against the
President.
By the way, the last paragraph in the article is a must read. Few folks know that Cubans
have a Cold War Era sweetheart deal with Homeland Security. Hopefully, when and if
Immigration Reform is done, sensible elected officials will close the Cuban Immigration
Loophole.
Saludos,
Jos Antonio Lpez
Navarrette: Ted Cruz reveals his ignorance on immigration
By RUBEN NAVARRETTE
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 at 5:16 p.m.
SAN DIEGO, California. Ted Cruz doesn't "get" immigration. Nor does he
understand the need to give due process to refugees.
This is clear now that thousands of children from Central America have crossed
the U.S.-Mexico border.
I've known the senator from Texas for a dozen years. And he's scary smart. Yet
on immigration and asylum -- where one would expect him to bring his A-game
because his father, Rafael, emigrated from Cuba in 1957 -- Cruz doesn't sound
smart, just scary.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cruz blamed the crisis on "the failures of
(President Obama's) immigration policy and his lawlessness."
The president's immigration policy has caused the deportation of 2 million
people. You don't get much more law-and-order than that.
On "Fox News Sunday," Cruz accused Democrats of "holding these kids
ransom" to pass a Senate immigration bill that he called "one of the causes of
this problem." He said kids are coming "because they believe they will get
amnesty."
The Senate bill would grant legal status to about half of the estimated 11 million
illegal immigrants in the United States -- but doesn't cover new arrivals.
It's true that many of the children told authorities that they thought they would
get a "permiso" (permit) to stay in the United States.
The White House insists that smuggling cartels planted the rumor to gin up
business. By charging about $8,000 per child to transport at least 57,000 kids
across the border, smugglers could have conceivably earned more than $450
million.
Cruz isn't blaming the cartels. He's blaming Obama. However, my sources
familiar with the border crisis say that some kids claim the rumor was that
"Congress" had passed an amnesty. So why isn't Cruz blaming House Speaker
John Boehner?
In trying to solve the border crisis, the senator mixes together three unrelated
things: the Dream Act, which offered undocumented youth legal status if they
went to college or joined the military, and which was defeated in December 2010;
a 2008 anti-human trafficking law, signed by President George W. Bush, that lets
undocumented minors from Central America live with relatives in the United
States while awaiting a hearing; and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a
2012 policy change by the Department of Homeland Security that lets
undocumented youth brought here as children avoid deportation and apply for
work permits.
DACA, like the Senate bill, would not apply to the child refugees.
It's apples, oranges and bananas. Yet for conservatives, it's all one anarchic fruit
salad.
Veering off course, Cruz has introduced bills that would prevent the Obama
administration from expanding DACA, change the 2008 anti-human trafficking
law, provide resources for state and local governments, and empower border
states to send the National Guard to the border.
Seriously? So the way to get children to stop coming here is to punish 20-
somethings who have been here for years?
Behold the Republican agenda.
They never liked DACA, and they are opportunistically using the border crisis as
an excuse to kill it.
Yet, those dots don't connect. Check the timeline. Texas Gov. Rick Perry claims
that he sent Obama a letter warning about a larger-than-normal flow of Central
American minors coming across the U.S.-Mexico border back in May 2012. But
that was a month before DACA was unveiled.
So the kids were coming -- before the change in policy that Cruz insists promoted
them to come. The senator's fast-and-loose approach to the immigration issue
will hurt him if he runs for president.
A Hispanic Republican strategist recently told me that, as badly as the GOP has
done with Hispanics in recent elections, it could do more poorly in 2016 if Cruz is
the nominee.
In 2012, Mitt Romney got 27 percent of the Latino vote.
"If Ted is the nominee," the strategist predicted, "he'll get even less of the
Hispanic vote than Romney got."
This sounds about right. The low-water mark for Republicans is Bob Dole, who
in 1996 got a paltry 21 percent of the Latino vote. Cruz could do worse. Whereas
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, or New Jersey
Gov. Chris Christie could make inroads with Latino voters, Cruz would
probably end up road kill.
As someone whose community has entered the United States on a red carpet,
thanks to that Cold War relic known as the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, Cruz
ought to tread lightly with immigrants and refugees. Instead, he comes across as
Cuban-American royalty telling less worthy peasants from Mexico and Central
America to eat flan.
WASHINGTON POST WRITERS GROUP
Email: ruben@rubennavarrette.com
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