Cruz: Democrats to blame if DHS closes

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a leading critic of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, said Wednesday that Democrats will bear the blame if a fight over those orders shuts down the Department of Homeland Security.

Cruz touted a decision Monday by a federal district court in Texas halting Obama’s unilateral action from November as more reason for Democrats to accept a House-passed Homeland Security funding bill.

“Right now Senate Democrats are filibustering to try to kill funding for the Department of Homeland Security in order to hold DHS hostage and force the president’s executive amnesty program onto the American people,” Cruz said at a press conference at the Texas Capitol alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other state GOP officials.

{mosads}“That amnesty program has now been declared illegal by a federal court and so Senate Democrats should look very closely at this opinion and decide if they are willing to jeopardize national security, which is both reckless and irresponsible in order to try to hold DHS funding hostage.”

Cruz praised Judge Andrew Hanen’s injunction against Obama’s order as “a major victory for the rule of law.”

The House Homeland Security funding bill includes language repealing Obama’s November order as well as another one shielding illegal immigrants who came to the country as children from deportation.

Cruz bashed Obama for allowing his administration to continue preparing to implement his executive actions pending the final resolution of the legal challenge. The Department of Homeland Security is planning to open new offices and hire hundreds of new employees to enact the new policy.

“The federal court enjoined any and all aspects of the illegal amnesty order,” he said. “If the Department of Homeland Security continues moving forward, that on its face is in violation of a federal court injunction against implementing any and all aspects of this order.”