Texas Senate race zeroes in on border, Hispanic voters

McALLEN, Texas ( Border Report ) — Both candidates in the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas are highlighting the border and trying to engage Hispanics with Spanish-language TV ads.

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Democrat, who is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in November, tells Border Report that voters need someone who will vote for immigration reform in Congress.

“For 12 years, Ted Cruz has failed to enact any kind of meaningful legislation to help what’s happening at the border to try to address either border security or our immigration system to make it work better,” Allred told Border Report this week via Zoom. “He likes to go down to our border communities and kind of use them as sort of like he’s on safari, as I see it, like as a political backdrop where you can go and point out problems, but then not do anything in the Senate to address it.”

Allred launched an ad that criticizes Cruz as “all hat and no cattle,” meaning he is mostly talk and no action.

But Cruz says he is a “defender” of the border and border communities and families.

Cruz last week launched his own Spanish-language TV ad in the form of a Mexican ballad, or corrido that calls him “ El Valiente Senador” or “the “The Brave Senator.”

The $4.4 million campaign targets Hispanic voters statewide and says he “defends the borderlands.”

In a statement, Cruz campaign spokeswoman Macarena Martinez said, “We are proud to announce our seven-figure investment in the Hispanic community, a community that understands the importance of family, security, jobs, and freedom. It has long been said that Hispanics are Republican, they just don’t know it yet, which is why Sen. Cruz is committed to ensuring that every Hispanic household hears his message loud and clear. This election is about Keeping Texas, Texas, and the Hispanic community is integral to making sure that happens in November.”

Allred tells Border Report that he wants long-term meaningful immigration policy solutions for the Southwest border. When pressed, he said he believes the current temporary executive order enacted by President Joe Biden in early June — which restricts asylum claim only to those with CBP One app appointments, and those who cross at legal U.S. ports of entry — should remain.

“I think it’s should stay but listen, to me. These are short term issues,” Allred said. “This has to be a comprehensive approach to this.”

Currently, the U.S. immigration case backlog is approaching 3.7 million pending cases, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University.

Allred criticized Cruz for not supporting the Senate Border Bill earlier this year, which would have added immigration judges, asylum officers and more resources for border communities.

Cruz, meanwhile, is critical of Allred for last week voting against a bill condemning the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris for not doing enough to secure the U.S. border.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

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