HOUSTON — With two days left before early voting starts, the Texas Senate hopefuls fired up supporters Saturday with passionate but diametrically opposed messages about immigration.

Sen. Ted Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant, said in Houston that his Democratic opponent, Rep. Beto O'Rourke, takes "reckless and extreme" positions that would undercut President Donald Trump's tighter enforcement of immigration laws.

Campaigning in North Texas, O'Rourke fiercely denounced the federal government's separation of immigrant children from their parents. For a time, it was ordered by Trump, who appears to be Cruz's new social media point man.

Trump will attend a Houston rally for the GOP incumbent Monday, the first day of early voting. In a Friday tweet, the president called O'Rourke "a total lightweight compared to Ted Cruz."

O'Rourke reportedly said he has lost weight on the trail, despite the Whataburgers and fried pies, and took a dig at Cruz and Trump's reconciliation.

"Now they're together again," O'Rourke said, "and so that's great for them."

An “interesting” distraction nonetheless, O’Rourke says, recalling how Cruz and Trump were “at each other’s throats” in 2016. “Now they’re together again,” O’Rourke adds dryly, “and so that’s great for them.” https://t.co/0nuSotE3pd — Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) October 20, 2018

In Houston on Saturday, Cruz said O'Rourke's hometown of El Paso benefits from a border barrier. But O'Rourke inexplicably wants to thwart Trump's desire to build a more imposing wall, Cruz said.

The first-term senator ridiculed O'Rourke's immigration stance by noting that thousands of Hondurans are fleeing their home country in a caravan, which has arrived at the Mexico-Guatemala border.

"There's a caravan right now marching north," Cruz told about 800 supporters.

"I'm just waiting to see Beto O'Rourke come down and start leading the caravan," he said with a smile.

A man in the audience shouted, "Who's feeding those people, Ted? Send 'em back to Honduras."

Cruz continued, "In Texas, what we believe is simple. It's not complicated. Secure the border. Stop illegal immigration. And there's a right way to come to this country, which is legally, waiting in line, following the rules and coming here and seeking the American dream. That's how it's supposed to work."

Meanwhile, O'Rourke unleashed a blistering attack on Trump's policy to separate children and parents who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. The families are escaping to a better way of life, and separating children from parents is "tantamount to torture," he said.

"We're doing real harm to these kids," O'Rourke told several hundred supporters at Lava Cantina in The Colony, the same bar and music venue where Cruz held a rally several weeks ago. "It's tantamount to torture. It's cruelty and it's inhumane."

"We must meet this challenge with our urgency and make it right," O'Rourke said.

While O'Rourke didn't mention Cruz by name, he said Texas is the pre-eminent U.S. border state and should lead on immigration issues.

"We must write our immigration laws in our own image," he said.

1 / 6Congressman Beto O'Rourke campaigns at Lava Cantina in The Colony on Oct. 20, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 2 / 6Congressman Beto O'Rourke signs a skateboard following a campaign rally at Lava Cantina in The Colony, Texas on Saturday, October 20, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6Congressman Beto O'Rourke walks off stage after addressing his supporters at Lava Cantina in The Colony, Texas on Saturday, October 20, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6Congressman Beto O'Rourke campaigns at Lava Cantina in The Colony, Texas on Saturday, October 20, 2018.(Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6Supporters wave as Congressman Beto O'Rourke arrives to campaign at Lava Cantina in The Colony, Texas on Saturday, October 20, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6Congressman Beto O'Rourke walks in to campaign with his staff at Lava Cantina in The Colony, Texas on Saturday, October 20, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

The congressman also said so-called Dreamers, unauthorized immigrants brought into the country as children, should be given a path to citizenship.

Cruz is against legislation to confer citizenship on Dreamers.

At his rally at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Houston-Greenway Plaza, Cruz recognized members of a union that represents Border Patrol agents.

Picking up on an attack he launched in San Antonio on Tuesday night, at the rivals' second televised debate, Cruz attributed El Paso's acceptable level of crime to border barriers. He said the barriers shield O'Rourke's hometown from mayhem in nearby Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Last year, it had 3,000 murders, he said. The El Paso Times reports that there were 773 murders last year in Ciudad Juarez and that there were 3,000 in 2010.

"Three thousand murders on the other side of the wall, the wall in between them and the relatively safe city of El Paso, and what does O'Rourke say? 'We need to tear down that wall,' " Cruz said. "I've got to say there are a bunch of Texans saying that boy don't think right."

“BTW, you don’t leave the scene of an accident. & then you don’t lie abt leaving the scene of an accident. We have enough of those people in Washingon.” -@seanhannity, hitting @betoorouke for ’98 DWI arrest. Unnamed motorist said he stopped O’Rourke from fleeing. O’Rourke denies. pic.twitter.com/1HDB6orDkn — Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) October 20, 2018

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, attacked O'Rourke for supporting NFL players who have taken a knee during the national anthem to protest police treatment of minorities.

"Man, he must be praying at the Pelosi altar. He's praying at the Schumer altar," Perry said, referring to Democratic congressional leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. "That don't play in Texas."

1 / 6Senator Ted Cruz addresses to his supporters during his campaign rally at The Fort Worth Herd on Friday, October 19, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 2 / 6Senator Ted Cruz addresses to his supporters during his campaign rally at The Fort Worth Herd on Friday, October 19, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6A supporter raises a cutout of Senator Ted Cruz's head as he signs souvenirs following his campaign rally at The Fort Worth Herd on Friday, October 19, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6Senator Ted Cruz waves to his supporters as he arrives for his campaign rally at The Fort Worth Herd on Friday, October 19, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6Rafael Cruz talks to supporters of his son, Senator Ted Cruz, before Senator Cruz's campaign rally at The Fort Worth Herd on Friday, October 19, 2018.(Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6Ian Williamson 9, of Fort Worth, carries a cutout picture of Senator Ted Cruz's head as he arrives for Cruz's campaign rally at The Fort Worth Herd on Friday, October 19, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

On foreign policy, O'Rourke played offense on an issue bedeviling the White House.

Saudi Arabia should be held accountable for what he termed the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he said.

Trump must punish the Saudi regime and in general get tough with murderous dictators, O'Rourke said in an interview in The Colony.

"Saudi Arabia must be held accountable," he said. "There must be a consequence. We must stop rewarding their bad behavior, whether it's what they've just done in the murder of a journalist, or their export of those who are spreading a hateful ideology, their indiscriminate bombing civilians in Yemen."

In Houston, Cruz declined to comment on the Saudi regime's claim that a struggle broke out at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, leading to accidental strangulation of Khashoggi.

Speaking to The Dallas Morning News editorial board Thursday, a day before the Saudis acknowledged Khashoggi is dead, Cruz said, "If it turns out the Saudis deliberately murdered a journalist for his views, I think there need to be repercussions and I think there need to be significant repercussions."