Backing SAVE America Act, Ted Cruz says Dems want ‘illegal aliens’ to vote

As debate over the SAVE America Act began on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) accused Democrats of deliberately allowing undocumented immigrants into the country so they can vote in U.S. elections.

That outlandish and false conspiracy theory is common on the far right. But Cruz’s unapologetic embrace of the claim on the Senate floor — which was echoed soon after by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) — underscores how extreme election lies have infected the very core of the modern GOP.

“Why would the Democrats choose to allow more than 12 million illegal aliens to invade this country?” Cruz said during the debate. “I’m going to suggest the obvious reason, because the Democrats look at those illegal aliens and they want them to cast votes for Democrats in federal elections.”

Cruz also claimed that Democrats have “chosen” to let violent criminals into the United States and are working to make elections “insecure” so noncitizens can vote — assertions for which Cruz provided no evidence for.

Voting by noncitizens in federal elections is illegal and exceptionally rare, with numerous studies, investigations and even the Trump Justice Department finding no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.

Still, Cruz doubled down, arguing that Democrats oppose the voter suppression bill because they “want voter fraud to be rampant and to be easy.”

Scott soon agreed with Cruz. 

“Democrats don’t think they can win unless we allow people who are not legally allowed to vote to cast a ballot,” he said.

The senators’ remarks represent a significant escalation in rhetoric as Senate Republicans bring the SAVE America Act — a sweeping voting bill that would impose strict proof-of-citizenship and ID requirements to vote — to the floor.

Democrats and voting rights advocates have warned that the legislation could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, while also noting that it is based on long-debunked claims about noncitizen voting.

The bill is widely expected to fail, as Republicans lack the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster.