Republican presidential candidate and Texas Senator Ted Cruz stated that he doesn’t support the amendments to increase legal immigration and H-1B visas in 2013 and accused fellow GOP presidential candidate Florida Senator Marco Rubio of fighting “tooth and nail, to try to jam this amnesty down the American people’s throat” on Thursday’s “Laura Ingraham Show.”

Cruz said of Rubio, “talk is cheap,” “you know where someone is based on their actions.”

He continued by pointing to 2013 battle over immigration and said he made the argument that border security should come first was one he made, “and all the folks on the other side dismissed it, said we were wrongheaded and anti-immigrant for believing we should actually secured the borders.”

Cruz added that Rubio “opposed every single one” of the amendments proposed to increase border security. After Cruz’s connection dropped, he pointed to an amendment he proposed to make anyone in the US illegally ineligible for government welfare benefits, adding, “remember the Gang of Eight was saying over and over again, they wouldn’t get welfare.” He said that every Democrat, and every Republican sponsor voted against this amendment.

Cruz further questioned Rubio saying he’s heard people’s concerns, arguing that people shared their concerns at the time, back in 2013. Cruz also stated, “the Gang of Eight, they fought tooth and nail, to try to jam this amnesty down the American people’s throat, over and over again.”

Cruz was then asked about his amendments to increase the cap of legal immigration and to increase the number of H-1B visas back in 2013. Cruz answered that he doesn’t think increasing the number of legal immigrants and foreign workers is a good idea. He continued that back in 2013 “I was introducing a whole series of amendments, in part to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Democrats. So, for example, the Democrats claimed they were supporting high-tech workers, so I introduced an amendment on that, every Democrat voted against it, which demonstrated that this was all a political endeavor for them, that what they were saying wasn’t true.”

He added that if elected president, he wouldn’t push for the legal immigration increases that he pushed in 2013 and that the H-1B issue has “changed pretty significantly” since 2013 due to “serious abuses” by major companies. Cruz further pointed to legislation he is working on to “fundamentally reform” H-1B visas to prevent abuse.

(h/t The Right Scoop)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett