In a Q&A Wednesday with Javier Palomarez, president of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Sen. Ted Cruz said that he’s “long-term optimistic and short-term pessimistic” about passing any immigration reform, and that lawmakers should focus on policies that have “bipartisan support”:
“I think we should address these issues one at a time,” Cruz said, arguing that there is consensus for securing the border and reforming the legal immigration system, but stopped short of saying what he would do for those illegal immigrants currently in the country.
“When it comes to immigration, I don’t think you have to solve every issue all at once,” he said.
Cruz also said that Barack Obama is exploiting the issue of immigration reform for political purposes:
“What he’s doing is focusing deliberately on the most partisan, the most divisive issue on this debate,” he said.
“Neither President Obama nor the Senate Democrats want to solve this problem,” Cruz added. “They want to use it to scare the Hispanic community.”
Watch the interview below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdyi1Qrlmh4]
