Recent polls show that the Texas Senate race is a close race between Representative Colin Allred and Senator Ted Cruz. Both candidates are running multimillion-dollar television ads trying to convince voters of their tough stance on border issues.
The two candidates may sound similar on TV, but they could not be more different in what they have repeatedly said and, more importantly, how each has voted in Congress. There isn’t.
Consider Allred’s latest ad, “Focused on Border Solutions.” This ad features an image of a wall. That’s smart politics. However, this does not reflect the true performance of the legislators.
At a 2018 Big East Forum event, Allred denied the need for more fencing, saying, “If that wall gets built, my generation will be tearing it down… “This wall will disappear,” he boasted. In Congress, Allred voted to block federal reimbursement for Texas’ Operation Lone Star bid to build its own wall, citing the Biden administration’s failures in border security. .
Mr. Allred also voted against the Secure Border Act, the most powerful border security bill ever passed by both chambers of Congress. The House of Representatives approved the bill in May 2023, completing the border wall, creating new penalties for human traffickers and drug smugglers, eliminating catch-and-release, and restricting the entry of illegal aliens. The broken parole and asylum systems that have made this possible will be reformed. Inundate our communities.
Mr. Cruz, by contrast, was the lead sponsor of the Senate version of the Border Security Act. His bill would create E-mail, a free federal portal that cross-references workers’ self-reported information with the Social Security Administration’s database to verify that newly hired employees are legally in the country. It requires all companies to use Verify. Mandatory E-Verification alone would all but end the border crisis by cutting off the “employment magnet” that attracts most illegal immigrants.
Nevertheless, it is Mr. Allred who has accused Mr. Cruz of failing to address the border crisis. All because senators refused to support a deeply flawed proposal that didn’t have enough support to reach a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
If passed, the Senate bill would routinely release at least 1,400 illegal aliens into the country each day. Under this policy, “catch and release” would be codified and forced detention would be ineffective.
It would also allow liberal asylum officials to grant asylum to illegal immigrants without requiring judge’s approval, and would immediately grant work permits to those who apply for asylum. That means more foreign workers will cross the border and fraudulently claim asylum to compete for American jobs.
Simply put, the border security bill passed by the House and proposed by Mr. Cruz in the Senate would have ended the border crisis. The Senate bill advocated by Allred would increase illegal and legal immigration.
My organization, NumbersUSA, does not endorse candidates. Rather, for decades, we have carefully cataloged every vote cast by members of Congress and the bills they support. It then assigns them a “report card” that shows voters what their senators and representatives are actually doing to increase or reduce immigration.
Allred’s career rating is “F-.” That’s not only lower than all Republicans in Congress, but also lower than 65% of their Democratic colleagues. Mr. Cruz, on the other hand, boasts a career A grade, earning an A+ in this Congress. He is one of the few members of Congress who has earned the title of our “True Reformer.”
Colin Allred has regularly voted against measures to eliminate illegal immigration while supporting bills that would worsen the crisis. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has spearheaded nearly every effort to secure the border and protect American workers.
Voters have a right to know the truth.
— Mike Huff is Director of Federal Government Relations at NumbersUSA.
