In a blinding act of conservative hypocrisy, Republican Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz is saying that he thinks Syrians fleeing violence in their country should just stay in their war-torn country. Ted Cruz is a descendant of a refugee. His father, Rafael Cruz, fled from Cuba in the 1950’s.
According to Cruz, the violence that the fleeing Syrians are running from should be the focus of the international community, not resettling them. Cruz would be more pleased if the Syrians simply stayed in the war-torn nation, rather than settling elsewhere. “Sen. Cruz is advocating for humanitarian assistance to the refugees from both Syria and Iraq and North Africa,” Cruz spokesperson Catherine Frazier told The Daily Beast. “However, given the logistical challenges and the security risk posed by resettling large numbers of them far afield in the U.S., he is not in favor of this plan if the ultimate intent is to return them to their homes.” Cruz’s people said the ultimate goal for refugees seeking safety from violence should be for them to return home, not to resettle them in United States. Thus, for Cruz (and all other right-wing nuts), it’s okay when their parents came to this country as refugees and stayed, but now it’s not okay for others.
In contrast to his newly discovered anti-immigration rhetoric, Cruz frequently calls on his family history to try to win points with voters. “America, quite simply, saved my father. America gave him a chance. . . . The freedom of America was the dream that allowed him to endure the brutality of Cuba. It was and is a beacon of hope for all those who, like him, have endured oppression,” wrote Cruz in his memoir. Just last year on Fox News, Cruz expressed his desire to help the Syrian refugees. “We have welcomed refugees, the tired, huddled masses, for centuries – that’s been the history of the United States. We should continue to do so.”
Like so many of the outspoken right-wing fundamentalists, Cruz is a hypocrite of mass proportion.
For more on this story, click Ted Cruz, Son of a Refugee, Tells Syrian Refugees to Go Home from The Daily Beast.
