Elections

Heidi Cruz: ‘Ted Is An Immigrant!’

(REUTERS/Trish Badger)

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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Heidi Cruz opened up a potential line of attack for Donald Trump on Saturday when she told a campaign crowd in Indiana that her husband can unify the Republican party because he is an immigrant.

“Ted is an immigrant. He is Hispanic. He can unify this party,” Cruz told an audience in Greenfield, according to the Washington Examiner’s Byron York.

The Texas senator was born to a Cuban father and American mother in Canada in 1970 but moved to Texas several years later. And though Cruz is an American citizen because his mother’s nationality, Trump has used his opponent’s birthplace to suggest that he is not eligible for president.

As York notes, Trump frequently calls Cruz by his given name, Rafael, during his campaign speeches, likely as a suggestion to voters that Cruz is soft on immigration.

It remains to be seen if Trump will jump on Heidi Cruz’s comments or if doing so will prove effective. But the real estate billionaire may have trouble in doing so since his wife, Melania, is an immigrant from Slovenia.

Indiana’s primary, which will be held Tuesday, is a must-win for Cruz if he is to have any chance of winning the GOP nomination. As it stands, he cannot win the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination before the party’s convention. His only hope now is to prevent Trump from reaching that magic number, too.

Trump has 996 delegates with 571 still available.

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