Ted Cruz and John Cornyn Aren’t Going To Agree on Immigration Anytime Soon
Jose Nino
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Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have been butting heads on immigration restriction. Specifically, restrictions of guest worker visas during the Wuhan virus outbreak was the topic of contention.
Last week, Cornyn teamed up with a group of Senators urging President Donald Trump to not implement additional guest workers restrictions against “guest workers are needed to boost American business, not take American jobs.” On the other hand, Cruz joined a group of conservative senators that is pushing for the suspension of all new guest worker visas for 60 days and asking the president to stop certain categories for at least a year, or “until employment has returned to normal levels.”
This division came about as the Trump administration signed a wishy-washy executive order last month that restricted some visas. Cornyn and eight other pro-cheap labor Republican senators are calling on Trump to consider “vulnerable American businesses across all industry sectors, including farming, forestry, packing, hospitality, healthcare, and communications and information technology, all which rely on non-immigrant guest workers to survive.”
“American businesses that rely on help from these visa programs should not be forced to close without serious consideration,” the senators stated. “The economic devastation that has occurred due to necessary precautionary measures taken to slow the spread of coronavirus would only be exacerbated if vulnerable businesses do not get the temporary labor they need to stay afloat.”
Cruz had a differing view. In a letter he signed on to with three other senators last month, Cruz declared that guest workers “remain a serious threat to the U.S. labor market’s recovery.” The letter petitioned Trump to stop all guest worker visas for 60 days with only “rare” exceptions for “time-sensitive industries such as agriculture.” Furthermore, the Houston Chronicle noted that the Senators want the Trump administration to suspend “visas for nonagriculture work and science and technology fields, among other categories, for a year or until the economy recovers, whichever happens first. ”These suspensions are critical to protecting American workers as our economy gets back on its feet,” the senators highlighted.
Cruz should be praised for stepping up and defending American workers. There are clear economic displacement effects when it comes to mass migration. Beyond that, there are also major political implications, which Senator Cruz is likely coming to grips with.
Texas nearly flipped blue to Beto O’Rourke in 2018 largely due to the state’s changing demographics. Democrats recognize these trends, which is why they’re investing heavy resources in the Sun Belt.
If migration is not contained, migrants’ and their posterity’s voting habits will create permanent Democrat party majorities across the nation, which will result in certain freedoms such as gun rights and free speech being severely undermined.
This is why a full-blown moratorium on immigration is long overdue. From there, America should focus its resources on Americans and assimilating the immigrants we’ve received since 1965.
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