Sen. Cruz: Obama trying to ‘scuttle’ immigration reform

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) on Wednesday charged that President Obama was seeking to “scuttle” efforts at immigration reform by pushing for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.

“I’m not optimistic about common sense immigration reform passing this Congress,” said Cruz in a speech in Dallas, first reported by the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t believe President Obama wants an immigration bill to pass, instead I think he wants a political issue. His objective is to push so much on the table that he forces Republicans walk away from the table because then he wants to use that issue in 2014 and 2016 as a divisive wedge issue.”

In particular, Cruz highlighted measures in a leaked White House immigration plan that would have allowed illegal immigrants to seek permanent residency status and begin an eight-year path to citizenship. 

“The president has been focusing on amnesty, a path to citizenship that skips ahead of the line,” he said, according to the report. “That, he knows, is a position not supported by a great many Americans and not a position that will achieve bi-partisan cooperation. It’s designed to scuttle the bill.”

A bipartisan Senate group last month unveiled an immigration reform framework that includes a pathway to citizenship as well as measures to strengthen border security and increase high-skilled immigration and employee verification programs.

But the weekend leak of the administration’s draft immigration proposal raised tensions, as GOP lawmakers criticized the White House for not first seeking their input. Obama’s proposal did not tie a pathway to citizenship to new border security measures, raising GOP concerns. 

The president reached out to key Republicans involved in the Senate immigration blueprint to calm the waters on Tuesday, speaking with Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Obama also insisted in an interview that the leak did not “jeopardize” the negotiations. 

But Cruz remained skeptical of the president’s commitment to forging an immigration deal.

“There is real opportunity for bi-partisan cooperation on immigration that increases border security and improves and streamlines our immigration system,” he said. “He is seeking partisan advantage rather than trying to bring people together to solve a problem.”

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