Sen. Ted Cruz touts border trade, security policies in visit to El Paso

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was in El Paso for a rare visit to the Borderland on Thursday. Cruz spoke at a local business roundtable hosted by the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce ahead of fundraisers scheduled in the evening.

Cruz, who is up for re-election in November, talked about legislative efforts his office is focused on and heard concerns from business leaders in the region.

"What I heard from the Hispanic chamber (of commerce) is - they want to keep this the best place in America and the best place in the world to own a business, to run a business, to grow a business and they want their senator to fight for small businesses and fight for jobs," Cruz said.

Senator Cruz called the El Paso economy "enormously important" to Texas as a whole, due in large part to trade with Mexico. One of the legislative efforts Cruz touted was expanding the availability of trade by building four new international bridges in other parts of Texas. Cruz says that along with a focus on lowering taxes and regulatory burdens asked for by businesses, the bridges will boost the state's economy as a whole.

"They will produce tens of thousands of high paying jobs and billions of dollars of new investment in the state of Texas," Cruz said. "They will benefit Texas farmers and ranchers and small businesses and manufacturers. And El Paso is a community that understands that trade - a vigorous trade with Mexico, our biggest trading partner, is critical to prosperity."

The junior Republican senator for Texas said that while more must be done to secure the border, He feels it can go hand-in-hand with fostering greater trade with Mexico.

"El Paso is is a large and growing city," Cruz said. "It's a city that that is based very heavily on trade. Trade with Mexico. I am a champion of expanding Texas's trade with Mexico." 

Senator Cruz said that both trade and security are critical on the border, and that state-level efforts like Operation Lone Star under Governor Greg Abbott could be eliminated by enforcing immigration laws already on the books.

"It's the federal government's responsibility to secure the border," Cruz said. "And if the federal government was doing its job, Operation Lone Star wouldn't be necessary. The state stepped in because, look, this crisis at the southern border, it is not an accident.

Balancing the priorities of border security and trade has proven difficult at the national level, with bipartisan consensus fleeting and bills often focusing on one aspect or the other put forth on a partisan basis.

For the local business owners Senator Cruz spoke with, immigration reform is one of the key aspects.

"Taxes are at the top of mind," said El Paso Hispanic Chamber CEO Cindy Ramos-Davidson. "Regulations and policies are the top of mind. A better economic outlook for business so that they know which direction to go and in the immigration world, it is about comprehensive immigration reform."

Ramos-Davidson said that staffing and the labor supply were major issues for local small businesses, and that having a too-restrictive immigration policy in place would be cause for concern.

"It's about ensuring that DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program) stays," Ramos Davidson said. "Where we don't have to take these young kids back (to their countries of origin) because job recruitment, talent and recruitment was an issue for our businesses. 

The El Paso County GOP website showed two fundraising events for Senator Cruz in El Paso Thursday evening - a reception and a dinner.