Texas Senator Ted Cruz said Democrat border policies empower cartels on the southern border.
Cruz made his remark during a Monday episode of his podcast Verdict With Ted Cruz recorded at the 2023 Texas Tribunal Festival.
The Texas senator noted a nearly 400% increase in illegal immigrants entering the country through the southern border since August 2020. Cruz said more than 200,000 illegal immigrants entered the country in 2021 alone.
"That’s what happens when you have open border Democrats who empower the cartels and, among other things, make billions of dollars for the cartels in human trafficking and drug trafficking not concerning themselves with the death and suffering and misery that results from it,” Cruz said before criticizing New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Earlier this month, Mayor Adams claimed illegal immigrants arriving in New York would "destroy" the city.
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Cruz noted small towns in Texas with less resources have experienced a larger proportional influx of illegal immigrants compared to New York City
“Eagle Pass is a small town on the southern border on the Rio Grande River. It has a population of about 28,000 people so it’s a little town," Cruz said. "On one single day, last week, more than 4,000 illegal immigrants came into Eagle Pass – on one day. Now 4,000 people in a town of 28,000 people is about 14% of the population."
"About 14% of the population of the city came illegally into Eagle Pass on one day," he reiterated.
The Texas senator noted New York City's population of about 9 million, saying a comparable number for the city would be 1,260,000 illegal immigrants arriving in the city in a single day.
"Mayor Adams says 110,000 people over two and a half years is a crisis destroying the city. Well, how would he feel about 1,260,000 people entering the city on a single day?" Cruz continued. "That’s what Eagle Pass saw on one day last week. And you know what? They saw thousands more the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day."
He added: "These Democrats do not give a damn."
Earlier this month, Adams referenced his 2022 estimation citing 15,000 illegal immigrants arriving in the city compared to current estimations, suggesting the city was hosting 110,000 illegal immigrants.
“The city we knew, we’re about to lose,” the mayor said.
New York City was declared a sanctuary city for immigration under former Mayor Ed Koch in the 1980s. The city reaffirmed its position as a sanctuary city under former Mayor Bill DeBlasio shortly after former President Donald Trump took office in 2017, citing his 2015 campaign statements expressing interest in cracking down on illegal immigration.
In February 2017, New York State Assembly passed the “New York State Liberty Act” prohibiting state and local police from conducting stops or arrests on “perceived immigration status.”
