EDINBURG, Texas (Border Report) — The union representing the U.S. Border Patrol on Wednesday endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who came to this South Texas border town as he rallies support for his reelection campaign for a third term.
Cruz gave a 30 minute feisty speech before hundreds of Border Patrol agents and their families who were crammed into the national headquarters of the National Border Patrol Council.
“I’m so proud to be back in the Valley, to be back with so many dear friends. I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the American heroes who are gathered here,” Cruz told the crowd. “To have the endorsement, to have the support of the National Border Patrol Council. That’s a big deal, because every day you all answer the call, every day you wake up and you go out and fight to keep this country safe. You fight to keep this country safe from some very dangerous characters, from human traffickers, from drug traffickers, from vicious and violent criminals. And I’m here to tell you — you know this already, but I want you to hear it directly — the people of Texas love you.”
Cruz’s visit to the South Texas border came as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Las Cruces, New Mexico, and a day before former President Donald Trump is expected to visit the Arizona border on Thursday.
Cruz bashed the Biden administration and specifically Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running as the Democratic nominee for president against Trump.
The crowd booed when her name was mentioned and laughed when Cruz said she hasn’t visited the border since taking office despite being tasked with what he calls the position of “border czar.”
Harris visited Edinburg while campaigning for the vice presidency and President Joe Biden assigned her to get to the root causes of illegal immigration, according to the White House.
Texas’ Border Czar Mike Banks, a retired Border Patrol agent who has been assigned by Gov. Greg Abbott to oversee Operation Lone Star, was at Wednesday’s endorsement announcement with his wife, who is also an agent.
“There is no more important issue in this election in Texas or across the country than securing our border. And listen, the people of South Texas, I’m telling you something you already know. But what we are seeing right now, this is not normal. This is not typical. This is a crisis. It is a humanitarian crisis. It is a public health crisis. It is a public safety crisis, and it is a national security crisis. And I’ll tell you, in the whole history of the country, we have never had an administration do what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done,” Cruz said.
When asked by Border Report how he can call the situation the worst it’s been when migrant encounter numbers on the border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector are down over 57% since February and the lowest since September 2020, Cruz responded: “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are tweaking the numbers to drop slightly right before Election Day. But we’ve seen 11 and a half million people cross illegally since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came into office. This is deliberate. They want this invasion and understand if — God forbid — Kamala Harris is elected, the numbers will skyrocket once again. The only way to secure the border is actually have a president willing to enforce the law.”
Cruz said a Spanish curse word to the crowd when referring to the administration and drew cheers from the Border Patrol agents assembled.
“The political idiots do everything they can to make it impossible for you to actually succeed in your job,” he told them.
With regards to his Democratic opponent U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, Cruz said he has voted against proposed legislation that would enforce stricter laws on those who illegally cross the U.S. border from Mexico, and he has not supported the building of a border wall.
Cruz recently came out with a Spanish-language TV ad set in a Mexican ballad, or corrido, that touts border security and shows him with agents.
Allred recently told Border Report that voters need someone who will vote for immigration reform in Congress.
“For 12 years, Ted Cruz has failed to enact any kind of meaningful legislation to help what’s happening at the border to try to address either border security or our immigration system to make it work better,” Allred told Border Report earlier this month. “He likes to go down to our border communities and kind of use them as sort of like he’s on safari, as I see it, like as a political backdrop where you can go and point out problems, but then not do anything in the Senate to address it.”
National Border Council President Paul Perez says Cruz has visited the South Texas border several times and understands the issues facing agents.
“He’s been a strong advocate for us. He’s gone out with the men and women. He’s worked out there with us on midnight shifts. He knows exactly what we need, and he knows how to keep us safe on the border, making sure that we can keep everybody safe on the border,” Perez told Border Report.
The union’s national board, which represents the 14,000 members voted to endorse Cruz again this term, Perez said.
Border Report asked Perez about Cruz not supporting the Senate Bipartisan Border Bill that would have added thousands of Border Patrol agents and funds for border communities. Perez responded: “The point of that is that for three and a half years, we were asking for help. We needed a lifeline. What they wound up doing with that border bill is bringing it out to us. What we wanted to do was get endorsements on the floor. We had Republicans that were going to ask for more additional funding, and we were going to actually ask for something that was actually going to help us on the border. We don’t think, we don’t think that it went far enough.”
The union’s previous president had endorsed the Senate Bipartisan Border Bill.
The Border Patrol union also endorsed Cruz during his last campaign.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].
