Sen. Cruz: South Texas COVID Rates are Rising Because of the Biden-Harris Border Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined his Republican colleagues in calling on the Biden-Harris administration to address the humanitarian, national security, and most recently, public health crisis on our southern border. As rates of COVID-19 rise in Texas communities, Sen. Cruz urged the Biden administration to preserve Title 42 prompt expulsions of illegal immigrants to protect the health and safety of Americans and called for passage of his SHIELD Act to codify Title 42 into law. Excerpts of his remarks are below.

WATCH: South Texas COVID Rates are Rising Because of the Biden-Harris Border Crisis

"The Biden border crisis is getting worse and worse every day. We are on pace for over 2 million people to cross illegally into this country. We have the highest level of illegal immigration in over 20 years. Last year, we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. How did we go from incredible success to incredible failure? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris screwed this up. It is their fault for making three decisions. In the opening week of this administration, Joe Biden halted construction of the border wall, he reinstated the failed policy of catch-and-release, and most disastrously, he pulled out of the incredibly successful ‘Remain in Mexico' international agreement that had resulted in the lowest level of illegal immigration in 45 years.

"No state in the union is paying a bigger price for the Biden border crisis than our home state of Texas. In Texas, we are seeing the influx of humanity, and what Biden-Harris are counting on is the news media not covering it."

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"Joe and Kamala want darkness on the disaster that they have created. And not only that, they're proposing to make it worse. Joe Biden is now talking about ending title 42. Title 42 is the tool that has allowed us to prevent people with COVID from being released into this country.

"We're in a pandemic. Joe Biden likes to talk about what a priority he puts on the pandemic. Understand this, if the Biden administration ends title 42 they will be releasing illegal immigrants in your community who are COVID positive. We're seeing COVID positivity rates rising in South Texas. We're seeing COVID positivity rising in Laredo. We're seeing COVID positivity rising in San Antonio. Just yesterday, I spoke with the mayor of Uvalde, Texas, who said as a result of the illegal immigrants being released - in Uvalde they're seeing COVID positivity spiking up. And Biden wants to release even more COVID positive illegal immigrants. This is lunacy.

"This week, I introduced legislation, the SHIELD Act with a number of senators up here to codify Title 42 and to stop Joe Biden Kamala Harris from releasing illegal immigrants in our communities who are positive for COVID. If you don't want to see this pandemic come back with the Delta Variant - most of these illegal immigrants coming in haven't been vaccinated. They're being put in cages with other people who are COVID-positive; they're spreading COVID and then releasing COVID in our communities. This is lunacy. It is lawless, and the only reason Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing it is because they are captive to the extreme radical left of their party. Everyone else who believes in common sense ought to say enough is enough. Let's not make the pandemic worse by making this crisis at the border even worse than it already is."

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