GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz put up a 60-second ad Tuesday, “Invasion,” that shows people in business attire crossing the border, an attempt to illustrate the economic threat that the Texas senator says those entering the U.S. illegally represent.
“I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn’t often see it as an economic issue. But I can tell you, it is a very personal economic issue,” Cruz says in the ad, which is running statewide in New Hampshire.
“And I will say, the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were coming across the Rio Grande. . . .
“Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation.
“If I’m elected president, we will triple the Border Patrol. We will build a wall that works. We will secure the border.”
The ad gets a dig in at rival Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who supported a comprehensive immigration bill, by putting up his picture briefly next to one of Cruz.
According to the Cruz news release announcing the spot, “The ad makes the point by showing men and women dressed in business clothes running across the border as Cruz describes how the immigration debate would take on a different tone if those illegally entering the country were taking the jobs of lawyers, bankers or journalists.”
Maria Recio: 202-383-6103, @maria_e_recio
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