Ted Cruz just vowed to deport 12 million people

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published 23 February 2016

Just five weeks after rejecting Donald Trump's suggested "deportation force," Sen. Ted Cruz is pledging to round up and deport all 12 million people who are in the U.S. illegally. In an interview Monday night with Fox host Bill O'Reilly, the Texas senator seemingly embraced the idea of using federal resources to search for people in the country illegally to deport them.

"Yes, we should deport them," Cruz said. "We should build a wall, we should triple the Border Patrol. Federal law requires that anyone here illegally that's apprehended should be deported." When O'Reilly pushed Cruz on whether he would actually "go look for them," Cruz responded that "of course you would." "That's what [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] exists for," Cruz said. "We have law enforcement that looks for people who are violating the laws, that apprehends them and deports them."

Just over a month ago, Cruz told CNN's Jake Tapper that he would not "send jackboots to knock on your door and every door in America" because "that's not how we enforce the law for any crime." A Cruz spokeswoman has denied any changes in Cruz's stance on immigration.