Illegal Immigrants Beat Up NY Cops & FLIP OFF the American People, plus the Senate's TERRIBLE Immigration Deal

Summary

Summary of "Illegal Immigrants Beat Up NY Cops & FLIP OFF the American People, plus the Senate's TERRIBLE Immigration Deal"

Release Date: February 5, 2024
Podcast: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Host: Ben Ferguson
Guest: Senator Ted Cruz

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1. Incident Overview: Assault on NYPD Officers

The episode opens with Senator Ted Cruz addressing a recent incident where a group of illegal immigrants brutally assaulted two NYPD officers in Times Square. The assailants not only physically attacked the officers but also exhibited blatant disrespect by flipping off the American flag upon their release.

Ted Cruz [00:01]: "There is a flashpoint that has happened this past week with an illegal immigrant who flicked off basically, the United States of America..."

Ben Ferguson expresses profound frustration over the incident and the subsequent handling by the New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg.

Ben Ferguson [00:39]: "I don't know that. There's a story that has pissed me off more in a long, long time than what the New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, did here."

2. Critique of District Attorney Alvin Bragg

Ferguson vehemently criticizes Alvin Bragg, labeling him as one of many "Soros DA's" influenced by billionaire George Soros. He accuses Bragg of releasing violent criminals without bail, thereby endangering public safety.

Ben Ferguson [02:04]: "Alvin Bragg is one of the sadly many Soros DA's across the country... Greg Abbott... She's giving them prepaid credit cards. It's clearly incentivizing them."

Ferguson highlights Bragg's justification for releasing the assailants, deeming it nonsensical and dangerous.

Ben Ferguson [02:04]: "There is a presumption of pretrial non incarceration for every case except those with charges of homicide or the death of a victim. What is Alvin Bragg saying? We will release the rapist before the trial."

3. Legislative Response: DUI Deportation Bill

Senator Cruz brings attention to a recent Senate bill aimed at deporting illegal immigrants caught driving under the influence (DUI), which saw significant opposition from Democrats.

Ted Cruz [06:01]: "This week there was a bill, I call this a no brainer bill... 150 Democrats... voted against that bill."

Ben Ferguson underscores the Democratic Party's prioritization of illegal immigrants over American citizens' safety.

Ben Ferguson [06:49]: "Today's Democrat Party systematically puts criminals and illegal immigrants ahead of the interest of American citizens."

4. Democrat Policies and Incentivizing Immigration

The discussion shifts to how Democratic policies are inadvertently encouraging illegal immigration. Ferguson cites examples of financial incentives provided to illegal immigrants, exacerbating the crisis.

Ben Ferguson [10:22]: "They are giving prepaid credit cards... $53 million is going to be distributed among illegal immigrants in the city."

He also references Washington State's misallocation of COVID relief funds to provide cash giveaways to illegal aliens, further incentivizing migration.

Ben Ferguson [10:22]: "$340 million illegally to illegal aliens... $1,000 cash giveaways to illegal aliens who were not eligible under the congressional stimulus program."

5. Senate Immigration Bill: An In-Depth Analysis

The core of the episode delves into the Senate's immigration bill, which Ferguson vehemently opposes, labeling it a "steaming pile of crap."

Ben Ferguson [17:45]: "The so-called Senate immigration bill is an absolute mess... I described it as a steaming pile of crap."

Ferguson explains the bill's background, emphasizing that it ties border security to funding for Ukraine and Israel. He criticizes the lack of transparency, noting that neither he nor any other Republican has seen the bill's text.

Ben Ferguson [18:04]: "As we sit here today on Sunday, I still have not seen the text of the bill."

He scrutinizes the bill's provisions, particularly the "safety valve" allowing tough sanctions if illegal immigration exceeds 5,000 daily arrivals—a number he deems insufficient and unacceptable.

Ben Ferguson [24:38]: "Cutting it in half would be good. Here's the problem that I think effectively normalizes 5,000 a day... over 1.8 million illegal aliens a year."

6. Internal Republican Conflict on Immigration Policy

Ferguson highlights the internal discord within the Senate Republicans regarding the immigration bill. While Senator Cruz and others oppose the bill, some Senate Republicans, influenced by leadership, support it without fully understanding its implications.

Ben Ferguson [24:38]: "Senate Republican leadership has basically declared war on House Republicans... many of my Republican colleagues are getting really pissed off."

He accuses Republican leadership, particularly Mitch McConnell, of pushing the bill for political maneuvering rather than genuine policy solutions.

Ben Ferguson [32:12]: "It is all about political messaging. This enables Chuck Schumer... to say, well, we've got a bill that would have stopped illegal immigration... The Democrat Party, they've lost their minds."

7. Implications and Political Maneuvering

The episode concludes with Ferguson discussing how the Senate's push for this flawed immigration bill serves as a political tool for Democrats, allowing them to deflect criticism and maintain favorable narratives.

Ben Ferguson [32:12]: "Senate Republican leadership helping the Democrats in the House... it's literally Senate Republican leadership... every Democrat in the House will say... we had a bill that would have stopped illegal immigration... You've got to pass this Senate deal."

He warns that the bill will likely fail in the House but will be used by Democrats to bolster their political standing.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ben Ferguson [02:04]: "We will release the rapist before the trial... That is utterly insane."
• Ted Cruz [06:01]: "150 Democrats... voted against that bill."
• Ben Ferguson [17:45]: "The so-called Senate immigration bill is an absolute mess."
• Ben Ferguson [24:38]: "Over 1.8 million illegal aliens a year. It's almost 2 million a year."

Conclusion

In this episode, Ben Ferguson and Senator Ted Cruz passionately critique current Democratic-led immigration policies, highlighting incidents of lawlessness and the Senate's contentious immigration bill. They argue that these policies not only fail to secure the border but also embolden illegal immigrants, posing significant threats to American citizens and undermining national security. The discussion underscores the deep divisions within the Republican Party and warns of the political repercussions of passing inadequate immigration legislation.

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Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Senator, we've got a lot to talk about with the Senate immigration bill and a lot of questions I want to ask you. But before we even get into the details of that, I want to talk about the state of the country with immigration and illegal immigration. And there is a flashpoint that has happened this past week with an illegal immigrant who flicked off basically, the United States of America, and after trying, I would say, to kill a police officer, where they beat police officers, there's a group of them, and they all walk free. And apparently, from what we've been told, they may even be on their way or already in California right now. Your reaction to that moment, Ben?

[Ben Ferguson]

I don't know that. There's a story that has pissed me off more in a long, long time than what the New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, did here. So the story, as you know, is a group of illegal immigrants, basically a gang of them, beat up two NYPD cops, beat them, kicked them, assaulted them, and then they were arrested and they got released within hours with no bail. They were just let go. And as you noted, the image of them walking out and with both hands flipping off the entire country, I think that is the image of this election when people go vote in November. Just remember that guy with both middle fingers extended because that's what Joe Biden is saying to you. That's what the Democrats are saying to you. They are saying, screw you, they don't care. And, and they are destroying, they're, they're destroying our country. And it is the idea that illegal immigrants can beat up cops and there are no consequences. It's perfectly okay. According to Democr Democrats is so toxic. Every, every elected Democrat should be forced to, to address this and, and to denounce Alvin Bragg.

[Ted Cruz]

There's also a brazenness aspect of this attack on these police officers. It was caught on camera because it was at Times Square. This wasn't in some back alley in another part of the city where there was some sort of major crime that was happening. And then the police got involved and there was a fight. This was just an assault on police officers at Times Square in an area where these illegal immigrants clearly felt like they can do whatever they want to do. There's no reason to believe, honestly otherwise because we allow them into this country, we give them a court date that could be seven years from now. And, and, and their reaction coming out of jail because of Alan Bragg, and I want you to go into Alan Bragg as well. This is an Activist George Soros da. And he's been confronted by this and he basically is doing the same thing as those illegal immigrants. He's flicking off the justice system, saying, I'm in charge, I'm an activist da, and there's nothing you can do to stop me.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now. That is exactly right. Alvin Bragg is one of the sadly many Soros DA's across the country. George Soros has spent millions of dollars electing Radical left wing DA's who let violent criminals out of jail and they go commit more and more and more violent crimes. And we've seen it across the country. We've seen it in New York, we've seen it in Philadelphia, we've seen it in San Francisco, we've seen it in la. You know, Alvin Bragg, right after they let these illegal immigrants out of jail with no bail, reporters tried to get Bragg to comment to answer why he'd done so. And he basically ran away from the reporters, refused to answer. And then subsequently, here is the explanation Bragg gave. I'm going to quote it, quote. In a court of law, our profound obligation is to make sure we have right people charged with the right crimes. I don't think New Yorkers want to charge the wrong person. There is a presumption of pre trial non incarceration for every case except those with charges of homicide or the death of a victim. Now that is utterly insane. I want you to focus on what he is saying. I'm going to read it again. There is a presumption. Well, actually the first part. Well, we want to make sure the right people are charged with the right crimes. These guys are on video. We've all watched the video. We know exactly who it is. We know what they did. There's a video of it. They do it brazenly in the middle of Times Square. Nobody is worried that you got the wrong guys here. We know they're guilty. They were videotaped when you beat up a cop and kip kick two cops repeatedly on the ground. There is no defense to that. So the first part of his statement makes no sense. But the second part, if anything, is even crazier. Let me read you the second part again. There is a presumption of pretrial non incarceration for every case except those with charges of homicide or the death of a victim. In other words, Ben, your wife or your mother or your daughter, your sister is violently raped. Alvin Bragg is saying, we will release the rapist. If she's not dead, we'll release the rapist. Before the trial, someone commits Horrific child abuse and child molestation. What is Alvin Bragg saying? We will release the child molester before the trial. Someone beats you, your son, within inches of his life, almost to death, and you don't die. Alvin Bragg is saying you can beat someone almost to death and he's going to release the criminal. That is so utterly insane. It is a policy that on its face, just produces chaos and lawlessness. And it produces what New York City has right now.

[Ted Cruz]

It's not just New York. This is something that we're seeing all over the country where illegal immigrants are able to commit heinous crimes. People die, as you just mentioned, and there's no accountability. And Congress, by the way, back that up. This week there was a bill, I call this a no brainer bill. That was a bill that was really simple to deport illegal immigrants if they are caught driving under the influence. Now there's a shocking number of people that have died at the hands of illegal immigrants who've been driving drunk. And so this bill was to say, look, you're in this country illegally. You get caught with a DUI, we are going to deport you. And 150 Democrats, Senator, voted against that bill. A no brainer bill. What the heck is going on? That's the words literally from Elon Musk on this.

[Ben Ferguson]

Today's Democrat Party systematically puts criminals and illegal immigrants ahead of the interest of American citizens. So if you're out driving on the road, if your wife is out driving on the road, if your kids are out and a drunk driver slams into them, who's an illegal alien, the Democrats are saying, nope, don't deport them. Then they are literally endangering our families. And listen, this has gotten so bad that even some folks in Hollywood are jumping ship. You know the comedian, this guy, Michael Rapoport? Yeah, look, he's a loudmouth. He puts these, you know, profane Twitter rants online. He hates Trump, he hates me. He is a big, big leftist. And you know how he responded to what happened in New York? He put out this rant. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna quote from it, although I'm gonna try to sanitize it a little bit. He slams his fist on the table and says, quote, this is why when I say voting for expletive Donald Trump is on the table. Voting for expletive Donald Trump is on the table. And he goes on to say, the other day, in New York City, six illegal aliens jumped a New York City cop. NYPD's finest. They jumped a New York City cop. In Times Square and were arrested and released without bail. And he continues, quote, released without bail, came out of the courtroom on some two pack, raising the middle finger with the Detroit Red Wings jersey. Let me tell you something. What the f is the world coming to if you could be from another country, beat up a cop in New York City and walk out with no effing bail. What the f is the world coming to when you have angry left wing comedians now ready to vote for Trump? The Democrat Party, they've lost their minds.

[Ted Cruz]

And there's, there's also, and you and I have talked about this and I think this is a really important moment. We should just highlight it again. Don't look at what they say, look at what they do. You look at Mayor Adams in New York City and what he says is we're a sanctuary city. Early on, we're a loving city. Come one, come all, we'll accept all the illegal immigrants. Now he's saying we can't afford it. Now he's saying it's a humanitarian crisis. Now he's saying this is all the fault of the Texas governor, Greg Abbott for bussing people there. And so he's saying one thing but doing another. And then he says, we have a problem yet New York comes out. New York City has come out and now they're giving prepaid credit cards with real cash on them to illegal immigrants. Even the rapper 50 Cent has said maybe Trump is the answer. This is second, you know, basically liberal that you just mentioned. The first comedian there, now 50 Cent, an African American famous rapper saying, I don't understand how this works. Somebody explain this to me how we're giving money to illegal immigrants. It's clearly incentivizing them. And when I say it's not a little bit of money, it's 53 million is going to be distributed among illegal immigrants in the city in the form of prepaid credit cards. So when you say don't come here, as Mayor Adams has said, but he says, Here's 53 million. If you do come here, what do you think's going to happen? They want them to come look.

[Ben Ferguson]

That is exactly right. They are literally paying illegal immigrants. They are, they are giving them, giving them prepaid credit cards. Now, now, mind you, New Yorkers, who do you think's paying for that? That that's coming from New York taxpayers. So, so they come to New York, they beat up cops, they get released and they get paid to do it. And, and by the way, it is not just New York. We are seeing this pattern Consistently in terms of, of Democrats. So another story that broke also in just the last couple of days. Washington State took $340 million of money from the federal government during COVID And it was Covid relief funds. And what did they do with it? They voted to give that, give that money, $340 million illegally to illegal aliens. And, and, and to, to send them checks. To send checks, $1,000 cash giveaways to illegal aliens who were not eligible under the congressional stimulus program. Well, Washington state says, well, gosh, we're gonna take the Fed's money and just pay illegal aliens. Well, you know what? If you pay people to come there, you shouldn't be surprised when more of them come there.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah. Mayor Adams also said this this week. He insists that the New York City migrant crisis, quote, has nothing to do with sanctuary city status. Your reaction to that, that, that total incompetency?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, he wants to blame it on that madman in Texas. And that would be Greg Abbott. As you know, I'm, I'm kind of offended that he's referring to Abbott and not me when he talks about a madman in Texas, but you know, that that's who he was talking about. And, and. All right, I'm going to do something. I've never before quoted Michael Rapoport, but I'm going to go back to something he closes his rant with. He says, quote, and he's a New Yorker, he says, quote, maybe my city is not the greatest city on earth anymore. If you could beat up cops, if you could beat up cops in the greatest city in the world and be released without bail. Are we the greatest city on earth? Cadaver Joe Biden. We see you. We effing see you.

[Ted Cruz]

And Mayor Adams taking a lot of heat this week. He may be, by the way, Senator, the first Democrat that I've seen so far in this cycle to actually say that we need to start deporting people. He says, only if they're doing violent acts. This was on local news in New York City doing damage control.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, listen, we. I've been saying this over and over again. The national government must do its job. This is not a responsibility that should be placed in the lap of all of these big cities. We're seeing what's taking place in Chicago and Denver, in Boston. All across our country, big cities are having to do the national government job. And those migrants who are here because they want to be part of the American dream, that's. We say yes to that. But those who are breaking our laws, we need to re Examine the laws that don't allow us to deport them because they're doing violent acts. We cannot create an atmosphere where you're going to bring violence in our city.

[Ted Cruz]

I mean, he says one thing like that. He's actually saying we should deport violent people that do violent acts. Yet he's giving out millions and millions and millions of dollars to illegal immigrants to come to a city.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yep. And. And the elected DA is letting violent criminals go who are assaulting cops. And by the way, it's not just Alvin Bragg's fault. It's not just George Soros fault. It's also the Governor's fault. Kathy Hochul, under the New York laws has the authority to dismiss Bragg. And if you remember, there was a very hotly contested gubernatorial race. Lee Zeldin ran against her and he promised if he was elected governor, he would fire Alvin Bragg. And so the voters of New York had the opportunity to fire Bragg. And if you remember, during that campaign, Lee Zeldin was on the campaign trail and a deranged man assaulted him, leapt on stage, had a keychain with, with. It was actually a hardened plastic keychain in the shape of cat ears, but the ears were like a knife. And he tried to basically cut Zeldin's throat. And Zeldin is a veteran. Zeldin served in the Navy. And so Lee defended himself and the guy was arrested. And the guy who tried to assault and murder the Republican candidate for governor was released the same day without bail, just like these guys. And so this is a problem that has been going on a long time. And Alvin Bragg is doing exactly what George Soros put him there to do, which is to release violent criminals into New York City. I don't know why Soros wants that, but he clearly wants it because he's put in place DA's that are doing exactly that.

[Ted Cruz]

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[Ben Ferguson]

Well, the so called Senate immigration bill is an absolute mess and I've been leading the fight against it. In fact, I did a press conference about a week ago where I described it as a steaming pile of crap. So my views on this are not ambiguous.

[Ted Cruz]

And that was putting it mildly, by the way, because it really is that bad.

[Ben Ferguson]

So let's step back, let's give some context. And one of the reasons we do this podcast is we have a chance to explain things at a, at a level of detail you can't get anywhere else. So, so, so why is there an immigration deal that's being discussed at all? And the reason is the Biden administration desperately wants a supplemental funding bill to pass. And in particular they want more money for Ukraine. They want more money for Ukraine and they've wrapped the Ukraine funding together with emergency Military funding for Israel. They wrapped the two of them together, along with some funds for Taiwan. Well, Senate Republicans took the position that we will not vote to move that forward unless we have a deal to secure the border. And we were actually, all of the Senate Republicans were united a month ago in saying, you've got to secure the border. We're not going to secure Ukraine's border until we secure our own. And that has to be part of this funding deal. So what happened? What happened is Mitch McConnell deputized James Lankford, Republican senator from Oklahoma, to negotiate with Chris Murphy, very liberal Democrat from Connecticut, and Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat slash independent from Arizona. The three of them have been negotiating for several months now and trying to reach a deal. They're saying that they essentially have a deal. The problem is the deal they've reached, I think is a terrible deal and it does not fix the problem. Now, that being said, Chuck Schumer desperately wants this deal to pass and Mitch McConnell desperately wants this deal to pass. Why is that? Well, for Mitch, his number one priority is Ukraine funding. It is clear that he is deeply committed to funding Ukraine. And so when it became clear that the Ukraine funding would not have the votes to pass, especially in the House, where a lot of House Republicans are vocally opposed to additional funding for Ukraine, Mitch I think, seized upon, okay, let's see if we can get something that we can say secures the border. And if that will get Republicans in the House to vote for Ukraine funding, Mitch will be happy. Initially, as this deal was discussed, we were being told by the, by James Lankford and by the negotiating by leadership that the deal would force Biden to secure the border to fix the problem now. And my view was great. Look, if we can do that, if we can force Biden to secure the border, that is worth doing. It's interesting. However, as we sit here, you and I are recording this on Sunday. It's going to come out Monday morning. As we sit here today on Sunday, I still have not seen the text of the bill.

[Ted Cruz]

Wow.

[Ben Ferguson]

Virtually nobody else has either, so I have no idea what's in the bill.

[Ted Cruz]

But hold on. That's what Nancy Pelosi says is good about Congress, right? We don't know what's in the bill until we pass the bill sender. Isn't that. That's just like a normal day of business, isn't it, at this point?

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. That is exactly what Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare. You've got to pass it to figure out what's in It. Now, Chuck Schumer has announced he's gonna force a vote on this bill on Wednesday. And as I said, we still haven't seen what's in it. So what's happened? Look, James Lankford, he's a friend of mine. He. He. He is a good and decent man. He was a pastor before he was a senator. Um, he. He. He's got a good heart. He is earnest. He's well liked on both sides of the aisle. He came back from. From negotiating this deal, and he went and visited every Republican senator. So James came to my office. He sat in my office and talked through orally, different elements that he said were in the bill. And so there are different elements. One of the elements that he emphasizes is he says this bill will tighten the asylum standards, make it harder to qualify for asylum. He also has said this bill will limit the use of parole, which is the legal authority that Biden has used to release millions of illegal immigrants. Now, both of those are good if it, in fact does that. But as I said, we haven't seen the text, so I'm not convinced it even does that. The fact that they're not willing to release the text is a big, big, big warning sign. It also apparently has some concessions for the Democrats in terms of giving work permits to illegal immigrants. I don't know the details of that, but I certainly don't like that. And then the provision that has. Has attracted the most attention is it has what Lankford characterizes as a safety valve that says if the number of illegal immigrants exceeds 5,000 a day, then extra tough sanctions kick in. And the way Lankford describes it, it, quote, shuts down the border. It prevents the Biden administration, he says, from accepting any asylum applications. And he said that's designed as like an emergency release. Now, in December, the last month, we have data for the number of illegal aliens coming in was over 300,000. It was more than 10,000 a day. That is the highest month in the history of our country. We've never had a month with that many illegal immigrants come. Lankford is arguing, well, this emergency relief valve would force the administration to cut that in half, from 10,000 to 5,000. Now, look, I agree. Cutting it in half would be good. Here's the problem that I think effectively normalizes 5,000 a day. It says we're okay with 5,000 a day. And by the way, 5,000 a day, if you do the math, that is over 1.8 million illegal aliens a year. It is almost 2 million a year. So if you look at over, over the three plus years of the Biden presidency, we have seen over 9.6 million illegal immigrants come into the country, 1.8 million a year. That's nearly 6 million. So it's basically Republicans saying, you know what, we're good with 2/3 of Biden's illegal immigration with the invasion, and by the way, with that essentially extending into perpetuity, I think that makes no sense whatsoever.

[Ted Cruz]

Why is there, why is he forcing this bill if there's still this much opposition to it? Does he think that he could truly get this rammed through and somehow the House would go along with this?

[Ben Ferguson]

So understand what's happening. Senate Republican leadership has basically declared war on House Republicans. So I have been leading the fight against this bill and we have the last two weeks at our Senate Republican lunches. To say we have had energetic disagreements on this would be the understatement of the century. And I have been standing up as of a number of other conservatives making the case against this. And many of my Republican colleagues are getting really pissed off. I've asked them. So the question I asked my colleagues, I've said, listen, I think the chances of this bill passing the House are zero percent. And by the way, when I first said that, the proponents of the bill were like, no, no, no, no, no, it's going to pass the House. The speaker loves it, he thinks it's great. And I'm like, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. But that's what they were claiming. Then last week, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, came out and said, this bill is dead on arrival in the House, which is exactly what I told my colleagues. But you've got somewhere between a third and two thirds of the Senate Republicans that desperately want to vote for this bill and in our lunches are arguing vociferously for this bill. Mind you, they don't know what's in it, but they just want to vote for a deal. And look, a lot of the usual suspects who are out being self righteous and saying we've got to do something. By the way, the Wall Street Journal has done multiple editorials urging Republicans, you got to pass this Senate deal. Presumably they don't know what's in it. We haven't gotten text, I don't know, maybe they gave the Journal text. But their view, and what I've said is, listen, initially the argument that was given was we were going to force Biden to actually secure the border. If this bill did that, I'd support the Bill.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

But as the negotiations went on, the talking points changed. And so it started with, we're going to force Biden to secure the bill. Now, here's what their talking point is. Well, okay, we agree Biden will continue to have an open border and the crisis will continue. But they say this creates new tools that if Donald Trump is elected, he can use to secure the border. So you wanna talk about moving the goalpost. First of all, we were gonna force Biden to do it. Now they can see now we're not doing that. But gosh, go lickety split. This is good for Donald Trump because it'll give him new legal tools to which I've responded to my colleagues. Donald Trump doesn't need new legal tools to secure the border. How do we know that? Because he did it already. When Joe Biden became president, we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. He did it by ending catch and release. He did it with the remain in Mexico agreement. He did it by building the wall. We can do that again. Trump can do that again. And mark my words, if and when Trump is reelected, you will see illegal immigration drop instantaneously. Because we've seen that movie before. That's what happened previously. And when Biden became president, we saw immigration jump skyrocket instantaneously. And so the arguments being presented in support of this bill are utterly disingenuous. It's, we've got to do it to give Trump tools that he doesn't need. And by the way, he doesn't want. He said, don't pass a bad bill. I don't want this bill. I don't need those tools. And yet the proponents of the bill are saying we should do it anyway.

[Ted Cruz]

Final question on this. And that goes back to something you mentioned earlier when you were talking about the image of those illegal immigrants who had beaten the New York Police Department officer. They get out of jail, apparently, they get to go on the run and get on a bus that was from Catholic Charities, from what we've been told, and headed to California by, by the way, lying about their name. Shocker there. And this is the world that we have now. And you mentioned quickly, you said this needs to be the center of the campaign. When you say that, that's not just the presidential. You're talking about everyone that's running for office that's a conservative and not even just running for federal office. This is a state's issue very much as well, no matter where you are in the country.

[Ben Ferguson]

Absolutely, yes. And understand how spectacularly Stupid. What Senate Republican leadership is doing? This is the number one issue in the country. People are furious. They understand. Joe Biden created it. I've asked leadership, I've turned to Mitch and said, Mitch, tell me how this bill, in what universe does this bill pass the House? And if the answer is it doesn't, then what is accomplished by forcing a vote on this bill that will split our conference? That bunch of Republicans were self righteously vote yes. Others, myself included, will vote no. What is accomplished? And they give no answer to that. They don't have a response. But here's really what's accomplished. It is all about political messaging. This enables Chuck Schumer, it enables every Democrat running for reelection. It enables Joe Biden to, to say, number one, to not secure the border, to leave the crisis exactly as it is. But number two, to say, well, we wanted to secure the border, but the Republicans stopped us. This is all about giving political cover for Democrats. And I'll tell you why Republican leadership in the Senate wants to ram this through in the Senate. And listen, they probably can get the votes in the Senate. They'll get all the Democrats and they'll get a dozen or more Republicans in the Senate that will pass it in the Senate. The reason they want to do it is then once they've passed it in the Senate, use it as a club to beat the crap out of House Republicans and to defeat the House Republican majority. It is literally Senate Republican leadership helping the Democrats in the House because every Democrat in the House will say, well, gosh, we had a bill that would have stopped illegal immigration. But you know, you, you Republicans didn't want to do it. And I will tell you the argument that is making me most angry. There are a number of my Senate Republican colleagues who are going out to reporters and they're puffing out their chests and explaining what self righteously what, what great statesmen they are. And they say the only reason someone's opposing this is that, quote, we want the issue rather than to solve it. So they're blaming it on Trump. They say everyone opposes this bill. You're just taking Trump's orders. And it's because we don't want to secure the border. We want it to remain bad in order to be able to campaign on it. And I will tell you, this past week I yelled at my colleagues, I said, screw you, because I want to secure the border desperately. And the reason I oppose this is it does not do that. But I said, you know what you're doing? You are reading Chuck Schumer's talking points and your lie will be used to reelect Democrats to the Senate and the House. You are, you're, you're not even be, you're simply being useful idiots. And sadly, they have no response to that. They just go back out and tell the reporters the same damn thing all over again.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, I, I agree with you. I think this is the, the, the issue of the year right now, national security standpoint. We talked about the illegal immigrants on the terrace watch list coming across the southern border as well. We're going to keep covering it for you. That's why we do this show three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Make sure you hit that follow button, especially if you are listening on Apple. They've changed their algorithms. You're gonna have to check to make sure. So many of you have reached out saying, hey, I'm not getting your show anymore. You have to reselect follow if you're listening on Spotify or anywhere else. You can also yell at Alexa or Siri and say, play Verdict with Ted Cruz and it will play it for you automatically on those listening devices and the center and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.