Cruz Spars With Agriculture Secretary on Border Security

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) got into a heated exchange with an unlikely secretary of Agriculture about security on the U.S.-Mexico border and the surge of northern migration.

During a Senate hearing titled, “Immigrant Farmworkers are Essential to Feeding America,” Cruz pressed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on border security.

He asked Vilsack if his agency was in charge of border security, migrant detention centers, prosecution of human traffickers. Cruz also asked if Vilsack is the attorney general or the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

All of which the secretary answered that he was not.

However, Cruz took issue with Vilsack’s explanation for why there is an ongoing surge of migrants at the southern border, noting that Vilsack pointed to poverty as a driving reason for the northern migration.

Watch the video below:

Cruz continued, “Your answers on 🛂Immigration were fertilizer. They were nonsense. Your answer, you said, ‘Why are we seeing this crisis?’ Your answer was poverty. There are 7 billion people on planet earth, many of whom are poor. And you know what? They were poor last year, and we had the lowest rate of illegal 🛂Immigration in 45 years. What’s changed is this administration refuses to enforce the law, and Texas is paying the price for it. That’s what’s changed.”

“Your other answer was the pandemic. Mr. Secretary, last year there was a pandemic, and we had the lowest rate of illegal Immigration