U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, Republican from Texas, was invited as the keynote speaker for the 66th annual Lincoln Day dinner of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade. He was truly amazing! Senator Cruz, being the son of Rafael Cruz, a Cuban exile, was welcomed as a son of Miami, although he was born on December 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Senator Ted Cruz and Miami-Dade Bear Witness Central Director Frank de Varona and veteran of the Bay of Pig invasion.
Senator Cruz drew enthusiastic applause from the more than 600 Republicans, including my wife Haydee and I as well as many veterans from the Bay of Pigs invasion, in the audience when he stated the following:
Ted Cruz and Rafael Cruz with Miami Tea Party supporters
“Like many people in this room, my dad was born in Cuba, in Matanzas. And like many people in this room, he experienced oppression in Cuba. He was thrown in prison and tortured by Batista. And his sister was thrown in prison and tortured by Castro.” Later, the senator asked, “Would everyone in this room who is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, please stand up?” Almost everyone in the audience stood up. Miami-Dade County, the most populous of the 67 counties in Florida, is the only large urban county in the nation where a majority of the Republican Party, 72% is of Hispanic origin, nearly all Cuban Americans.
Amnesty
During a press conference before the dinner, Senator Cruz spoke on the dangers of providing amnesty to undocumented immigrants. The Senator stated the following: “Amnesty, number one, is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants, to the millions of men and women and children who waited in line for years, sometimes decades. But number two, amnesty inevitably encourages more illegal immigration.”
Senator Cruz explained that when Congress and President Ronald Reagan approved amnesty for approximately 3,000,000 undocumented immigrants, the American people understood that the border would be sealed to stop illegal immigration. However, this was not done and now the country has an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants.
The Senator believes that if the comprehensive immigration reform bill presented by the so-called “Gang of Eight” were to be approved by Congress and signed into law, this would only encourage millions of people to cross the border illegally. Senator Cruz laid blame for the failure of comprehensive immigration reform on President Obama and the Democrats in Congress, whom he accused of having an all-or-nothing approach to the issue because they demand a path to citizenship. Senator Cruz proposed many amendments to the “Gang of Eight” bill, such as removing the path to citizenship, but they were all rejected by the Democrats in the Senate. Senator Cruz stated that he favors legal immigration and a comprehensive immigration reform to attract bright and educated professionals who could assist the nation to improve its economy.
The mere discussion of the comprehensive immigration bill, even though immigration reform may not pass Congress this year, has created a humanitarian crisis for the border states and the nation. Although President Barack Obama pretended to be surprised by the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors crossing the border that created a humanitarian crisis, this was another shameful lie by the president.
Thomas Lifson wrote an article entitled “Stunning: DHS (Department of Homeland Security) Solicited Bids for Vendor to Handle 65,000 Unaccompanied Minors-in January!” which was published by American Thinker on June 20, 2014. The reporter stated the following: “The Obama administration’s claim to have been surprised by the wave of children flooding over our borders may turn out to be another political lie of the year… On January 28, 2014, the federal government posted an advertisement seeking bids for the vendor contract to handle 65,000 unaccompanied alien children… Why would DHS and ICE be claiming surprise by the current influx of un’s accompanied minors on the border in June (2014) when they were taking bids for an exact contract to handle the exact situation in January?”
How could the federal government anticipate 65,000 children crossing our border when the previous year the most ever encountered was 5,000? While this humanitarian crisis was happening, President Barack Obama was having a ceremony in the White House honoring undocumented youths for exemplary achievement. This, of course, is an advertisement for more minors to enter the United States illegally. It is high time to subpoena the people in the Department of Homeland Security who placed the ad to give testimony in Congress. This is another scandal of the Obama administration that needs to be investigated. Never before in the history of our nation has Congress investigated so many scandals of a presidential administration at the same time as it is doing currently. Any of these major scandals could be career ending for the corrupt traitor who lives in the White House.
Letter from Senator Cruz to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson
Senator Cruz sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on June 19, 2014 regarding the terrible situation Texas is facing due to the failure of the current administration to secure the border. He urged Secretary Johnson to consider Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s proposal. This proposal would enable the state of Texas to take decisive action to secure the Southwest border and prohibit further endangerment of thousands of unaccompanied minors.
Senator Cruz stated in his letter to Secretary Johnson the following:
“Each day, hundreds of unaccompanied children enter the United States after being handled to dangerous human smugglers. Along the way, those children are sometimes abused, sometimes sold into prostitution, sometimes recruited by drug cartels, and sometimes even killed. Those who make it are now been housed in the United States military installations in Texas, California, and Oklahoma.
While we are obligated to keep those children safe, we are also obligated to stop more children from risking their own safety and being forced into such a terrible situation. Without a doubt, the growing humanitarian crisis at our border is a direct consequence of the Obama administration’s refusal to secure the border. Children are pushed into the hands of criminals because Obama administration has made it clear to the world that any child who arrives, regardless of whether they are granted formal legal status, will be permitted to stay in the United States.
The Obama administration’s outright refusal to enforce the law is causing chaos for those of us who live and work in border states that most deal with the surge of immigrants who are illegally arriving each day. When last we spoke at the Senate Judiciary Committee in June (2014), I was disappointed that you were unwilling to acknowledge how the administration’s policies have contributed to the crisis. For decades now, Congress has mandated that the federal government secure the border, and the number of persons arriving illegally in the United States has grown from around 8.5 million to around 11.5 million today. Increasingly alarming statistics demonstrate how our porous borders are leaving Americans vulnerable to crime and even terrorism.
As the Department of Homeland Security is aware, 1,918 individuals from special interest countries were apprehended on the Southwest border between FY2006 and FY2011, and according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, six of the eight major Mexican drug cartels have command and control networks operating in the state.
We have seen the rise of drug cartels that make between $19 billion and $29 billion annually from U.S. drug sales, and one study has estimated that some 10,000 women from southern and central Mexico are trafficked to the northern border region annually to be sexually exploited. Last year Border Patrol rescued 2,346 people in danger, encountered 461 assaults, and sifted the rubble of 445 senseless deaths.
I am writing to urge your full consideration of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s letter of June 12, 2014, in which he proposed that the state of Texas be empowered to take decisive action to secure the Southwest border during the present crisis brought on by the arrival of roughly 50,000 unaccompanied minor children.
Preventing people from illegally immigrating to the United States should be the primary purpose of Custom and Border Protection. And, although this critical task is primarily a federal responsibility, Texas is prepared to take action to gain control of our borders. Should it be determined that implementation of this proposal would require action by Congress, I stand ready and willing to do my part to protect our citizens and prevent any more children from falling into the hands of notorious human smugglers who often kidnap, rape, abuse, and murder them.
To that end, I request the prompt response detailing your thoughts on Attorney General Abbott’s proposal.”
Senator Ted Cruz, with two other Republican Senators, filed legislation to temporarily halt further transfers or releases of prisoners at Guantánamo Naval Base. Following the controversial prisoner swap the Obama administration made earlier in June 2014, resulting in the release of the worst five Taliban terrorists, further releases should be off the table until President Obama can explain how the swap was in the United States’ national security interest. The bill that Senator Cruz and other Republican Senators filed makes a lot of sense since 29% of former Guantánamo detainees have returned or are suspected of returning, to terrorism. The Obama administration should not release or transfer prisoners who could potentially return to the battlefield. The security of the American people, not a political promise to close Guantánamo Bay, should guide decisions regarding these terrorists.
Senator Ted Cruz criticized the Obama administration at the Lincoln dinner
Senator Ted Cruz criticized the Obama administration’s domestic and foreign policies. He said that we are facing unprecedented threats from all over the world and at home we are losing our liberty and becoming bankrupt. The Senator stated we either pulled back from the precipice or we will lose this country. He said that the nation needs to do three things:
1. Champion growth and opportunity. The nation is trapped into a great stagnation. The biggest lie by Democrats is to call the Republican Party the party of the rich. Many big businesses supported Obama because they like big government. The people who have been hurt the most in the nation are single mothers, young people, Latinos, African-Americans, the very individuals that Obama promised to help. Senator Cruz stated that we need to restore the American Dream.
2. Defend the Constitution. Liberty is under assault in America. The Internal Revenue Service is out of control and persecuting conservative organizations and individuals. Senator Cruz wants to abolish the IRS. The Common Core national curriculum pushed by the Obama administration violates the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. He stated that education is too important to leave it to bureaucrats in Washington. Senator Cruz would like to repeal every word found in Common Core. He also wants to repeal ObamaCare.
3. Restore leadership in the world. Senator Cruz believes that the United States is receding from world leadership. The President needs to have a voice as a defender of freedom around the world. The President needs to demand freedom for Leopoldo Lopez in Venezuela and Alan Gross in Cuba, and Castro needs to free the entire population of Cuba.
The Senator discussed the situation of Meriam Ibrahim, a young wife and mother, who is facing horrific persecution simply for being a Christian. Her husband is an American from New Hampshire and she has a son and a newborn daughter, both of them American citizens. Ibrahim is imprisoned in Sudan because of her Christian faith. The government of Sudan has sentenced her to 100 lashes and then to be hang by the neck until dead. President Obama needs to act now, to defend religious liberty, and to save and bring her back to America. He said we need to stand with the nation of Israel.
In regards to Meriam Ibrahim , all the President Obama needs to do is to call his brother, Malik Obama, who is serving as secretary of the Da’wa organization in the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist nation of Sudan. Malik Obama knows the dictator of Sudan very well and collaborates with him. The president’s brother, Malik Obama, was also accused by the Vice President Supreme Court of Egypt as being “the architect of finances of the Muslim Brotherhood” in that nation.
Incredibly, President Barack Obama has gone to the United Nations and stated “the world must not belong to those that blaspheme prophet Mohammed.” But he seldom demands stopping the persecution and assassination of Christians and the burning of their churches in the Middle East, nor does he criticizes the oppression of women under Sharia law in Muslim countries.
Senator Cruz wants the president to be a voice for freedom, like President Ronald Reagan, who demanded Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” during his visit to Berlin. Unfortunately, this is not happening and the president remains silent on the persecution and assassinations of students in Venezuela and the persecution and assassinations of peaceful opponents in Cuba. President Barack Obama has never been a voice for freedom.
President Obama’s weakness before our enemies has made us a superpower in retreat and has emboldened all of our enemies worldwide. A superpower needs to be respected by its allies and feared by its enemies. The United States is neither under President Barack Obama. This is why “America is in Decline,” as is the title of my recent new book. Obama is the architect of the destruction of the United States.
Senator Cruz explained that his father told him long ago “I lost my freedom in Cuba, but outside before the letter happened here.” Rafael Cruz accompanied his son to the Lincoln dinner.
Senator Cruz was optimistic about the future of America. He said we need to energize a grassroots party to take back this country. No politician can do it for us, the people must do it. As good as 2014 going to be, 2016 will be even better. The Senator wants to restore the “shining city in the hill” that is the United States of America.
Senator Cruz’s speech energized the audience who stood up and cheered and strongly applauded him. The Senator and his father patiently took pictures with everyone in the audience who approached them. I gave him a copy of my book America in Decline (2014) and a copy of my recent article “Barack Obama Needs to be Impeached and Hillary Clinton Indicted.”
Senator Ted Cruz has a bright future ahead and may run for president in 2016
Ted Cruz was elected as the 34th United States senator from Texas in 2012. He is a passionate fighter for limited government, economic growth, and the Constitution. Ted Cruz won a decisive victory in both the Republican primary and the general election, despite having never been elected to office.
Tens of thousands of grassroot conservatives and tea party activists across Texas propelled him to victory. The Washington Post described his election as “the biggest upset of 2012… A true grassroots victory against very long odds.” The National Review has described Cruz as “a great Reaganite hope,” and columnist George Will described him as “as good as it gets.” The National Federation of Independent Business characterized his election as “critical to the small business owners in (Texas, and), also to protecting free enterprise across America.”
Senator Ted Cruz’s calling to public service is inspired largely by his first-hand observation of the pursuit of freedom and opportunity in America. Senator Cruz’s mother, Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson Darragh, was born in Delaware to an Irish and Italian working-class family. She became the first in her family to go to college. She graduated from Rice University with a degree in mathematics and became a pioneering computer programmer in the 1950s.
Senator Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, was born in Cuba, fought in the revolution, and was imprisoned and tortured. He fled to Texas in 1957, penniless and not speaking a word of English. He washed dishes for $.50 an hour, paid his way through the University of Texas, and started a small business in the oil and gas industry. Today, the Senator’s father is a pastor in Dallas.
Ted Cruz attended high school at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas, and later graduated from Second Baptist High School in Houston as valedictorian in 1988. Ted Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1992. While at Princeton, Cruz joined the debate team and received many awards including the United States National Speaker of the Year and Team of the Year.
After graduating from Princeton University, Ted Cruz attended Harvard Law School. While at Harvard Law, Cruz was the primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review. Referring to Ted Cruz’s time as a student at Harvard Law School, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, “Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant.” He graduated from Harvard with high honors.
The Senator serves on the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; the Committee on Armed Services; the Committee on the Judiciary; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Committee on Rules and Administration. Senator Cruz is pro-life, with except when the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life. He opposes same-sex marriage, stating that he instead supports marriage “between one man and one woman,” but he believes that the legality of same-sex marriage should be left to each state to decide. The Senator supports gun-rights.
Since being elected senator, Ted Cruz has spent a great deal of time criticizing the misguided economic policies of the Obama administration. In 2013, Senator Cruz opposed the United States intervention in the Syrian civil war and stated that America’s Air Force should not serve as “Al Qaeda’s Air Force.”
Several commentators believe that Ted Cruz will run for president in 2016. Since Ted Cruz was born in Canada, commentators have speculated about Cruz’s legal status as a natural-born citizen. Because he was a United States citizen at birth since his mother was a U.S. citizen who lived in this nation for more than 10 years as required by the Nationality Act of 1940, most commentators believe Cruz is eligible to serve as president of the United States.
Before being elected to the Senate, Ted Cruz received national acclaim as the Solicitor General of Texas, the state’s chief lawyer before the United States Supreme Court. Serving under Attorney General Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz was the nation’s youngest Solicitor General, the longest-serving Solicitor General in Texas, and the first Hispanic Solicitor General of Texas.
Ted Cruz spent five years in private practice as a partner at one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice. He has authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and argued 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.
During Ted Cruz’s service as Solicitor General, Texas achieved an unprecedented series of landmark national victories. He successfully defended cases such as the United States sovereignty against the United Nations and the World Court; the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms; the constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument; the constitutionality of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance; the constitutionality of the Texas Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment law; and the Texas congressional redistricting plan.
Ted Cruz taught United States Supreme Court litigation as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law. Prior to becoming solicitor general, he served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. He advised presidential candidate George W. Bush on a wide range of policy and legal matters, including civil justice, criminal justice, constitutional law, immigration, and government reform.
Ted Cruz served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court. He was the first Hispanic ever to be clerk for the Chief Justice of the United States.
Senator Ted Cruz and his wife Heidi live in his hometown of Houston, Texas, with her two young daughters, Caroline and Catherine. Heidi Cruz is currently head of the Southwest Region in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs and Company. Previously, she worked in the White House for Condoleezza Rice.
Senator Ted Cruz has a brilliant future in politics. More than likely he will run for president in 2016. If nominated by the Republican Party and elected by the people, Ted Cruz will be a great president.
Rafael Cruz and Rosa Pena of Miami Tea Party
Ted Cruz and various Miami Tea Party members
