AUSTIN, Texas – According to KXAN Austin’s Ryan Chandler: Ted “Cruz said in El Paso he doesn’t think we need new laws to better secure the border…”

…doubling down on his claim earlier this year that “We don’t need a border bill.”

Cruz has had 12 years to address the border and done nothing:

• In response to Democrats and Republicans working together on bipartisan border solutions, he said “We don’t need a border bill.”

• In 2013, he proudly “led the fight to defeat” the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration reform package.

  • It would have provided $4.5B in border security funding (including fencing) and 3,500 additional border patrol agents.

• Cruz voted against the Border Patrol-endorsed, bipartisan border package this year, and admitted he opposed it for political reasons.

  • According to the AP, the package would “send $20 billion to immigration enforcement, providing money to hire thousands more officers to evaluate asylum claims, add hundreds of more Border Patrol agents and help stop the flow of fentanyl.”

• Cruz also voted against the Homeland Security Appropriations package this year – that John Cornyn supported, and was signed into law – which included millions in funding to hire a record 22,000 border patrol agents.