Ted Cruz predicts Republicans will lose Congress if DACA deal includes amnesty Houston police chief Art Acevedo challenges Cruz on Twitter

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, walks to the senate floor, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, at Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, walks to the senate floor, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, at Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Photo: Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press Photo: Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Ted Cruz predicts Republicans will lose Congress if DACA deal includes amnesty 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

U.S Sen. Ted Cruz said Republicans will lose the majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate if they support an immigration deal that provides a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers.

"Mark my words, if Republican majorities in Congress pass citizenship for millions of people -- an amnesty -- I think it is quite likely we will lose both houses of Congress and Speaker Nancy Pelosi will impeach President Trump," Cruz said during an interview on Fox News Channel Thursday morning.

If the immigration plans pass, he said conservative voters will be so upset that they will stay at home and not come out to vote for Republicans while Democratic voters turnout out in big numbers.

Cruz said the immigration reform plans before the Senate now "just don't make any sense."

The Senate began a series of votes Thursday afternoon on competing proposals, but all were expected to be rejected, with no final compromise in sight.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has been among those working on the plans that would give children brought to the country by undocumented parents a chance to stay and a pathway to become citizens. Cornyn has denied that plan is a form of amnesty.

"In America, we don't punish children for the mistakes their parents made," Cornyn said in a floor speech Tuesday.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo also is in opposition to Cruz's hardline against any path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. Acevedo took to Twitter on Wednesday night to remind Cruz that he and Acevedo have Cuban roots and are from families that came to the U.S. looking for a better life.

"With all due respect @tedcruz, members of your family fled Communist Cuba, I & my family fled Communist Cuba, & Cubans are the first boat people of the modern era; was it ok for us but not for dreamers? We need to stand up for dreamers with record of being responsible," Acevedo wrote on Twitter.

But Cruz on Thursday morning was unequivocal in his opposition to any plan to provide citizenship to those children.

"We should not be granting citizenship to people here illegally," Cruz said. "For whatever reason you have a whole lot of Republicans eager to propose granting citizenship for 1.8 million people here illegally."

Cruz said that is "dramatically to the left of where Barack Obama was."

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He said Obama's executive action to protect Dreamers only covered 690,000 people.

"Why on Earth are Republicans trying to more than double - nearly triple that?" Cruz said on Fox & Friends.

Cruz said under Obama's executive orders, people who qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) did not get citizenship. But he said the Republican proposals before the Senate would

"Why would Republicans be galloping to the left of Barack Obama?" Cruz asked.

When pressed by Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade about polls that show Americans want protections for DACA recipients, Cruz said he doesn't believe those polls.

Cruz's comments about Pelosi come just a day before the House Minority Leader is expected to be in Houston - just miles from Cruz's home - giving a speech to Democratic activists that will almost certainly include a call for citizenship to DACA recipients.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.