Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Wednesday that the Friday killing of five people in Texas allegedly by an illegal immigrant is a "horrific" consequence of President Joe Biden's open border policies.
"What this monster did was horrific," Cruz said during an appearance on Newsmax's "The Record with Greta Van Susteren." "He murdered five people in cold blood, including an 8-year-old child. I'm very, very glad he has been apprehended. He needs to be — and he will be — prosecuted, and I believe he should be sentenced to death for the horrific crime he committed. But I also think we should pause and ask, 'Why did this happen in the first place? Why was he here in the first place?'
"This individual was an illegal alien who had crossed into this country over and over and over again," he continued. "He'd been deported four times. And yet, under Joe Biden's open border, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] didn't come find him. They didn't deport him. They didn't enforce the law, and there are five people who are dead because this mass-murdering illegal alien was allowed to stay here illegally. These are the very real consequences of the Biden open border policies. They are horrific. And I'll tell you, my home state of Texas is on the front line of paying the price for these policies."
Cruz said the suspect in the Texas shooting, Francisco Oropesa, 38, "was found under a pile of dirty laundry hiding in a closet, and he was apprehended by a tactical unit of the Border Patrol" after a multiday manhunt involving hundreds of officers from several agencies.
When asked about the agreement the Biden administration recently reached with Mexico that allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be returned to Mexico when they illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, Cruz said, "If that's real, that's a step in the right direction.
"It's the first positive thing they may have done on the border in 2 1/2 years," he said. "There were three specific steps Joe Biden did his first week in office that caused this crisis. No. 1: He immediately halted construction of the border wall. No. 2: He reinstated the disastrous policy of catch and release, so that now when we apprehend someone, they turn around and let them go.
"And No. 3: He pulled out of the incredibly successful 'Remain in Mexico' agreement, which enabled people who came into Mexico illegally to remain in Mexico while the U.S. asylum case was proceeding," he continued. "Those three key decisions — all political — caused this problem. If they are, in fact, going back to deporting some of the people coming illegally, that is a step in the right direction."
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