Cruz: Immigration is a Very Personal Economic Issue

Republican candidates got into a heated exchange on immigration at the FOX Business/Wall Street Journal prime-time primary debate Tuesday. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz argued that the topic's economic impact is not brought up enough.

“I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn’t often see it as an economic issue, but I can tell you for millions of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue,” Cruz said.

He pointed out that Republicans need to stand firm against illegal immigration.

“The Democrats are laughing – because if Republicans join Democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose.”

Cruz added, “We can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law…Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we’re not going to enforce the laws and we’re going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women.”

Prior to that, real estate mogul Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich traded barbs on the matter.

“We have to stop illegal immigration. It’s hurting us economically, it’s hurting us from every standpoint, it’s causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular,” Trump said.

Kasich fiercely disagreed with Trump’s view that the U.S. needs to deport illegal immigrants who are already living here.

“For the 11 million people, come on folks, we all know you can’t pick them up and ship them back across the border. It’s a silly argument. It’s not an adult argument. It makes no sense,” Kasich said.

He argued that if illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. are law abiding, they should pay a penalty but be able to stay.

“All I can say is, you’re lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That’s for one thing,” Trump fired back

The billionaire businessman went on to recount how President Dwight Eisenhower moved 1.5 million immigrants out of the country successfully during his time in office.

“We have no choice,” he concluded.