Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who is running for Senate on a platform of getting tough on the southern border, once dismissed the crisis of illegal immigration as a "right-wing echo chamber," CNN reported Thursday.
Notably, Allred is bringing his new tough outlook on the border issue against incumbent Texas conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the Senate's toughest border hawks.
Cruz is leading Allred by 11 points in his bid for a third term.
Allred just released a new ad promising to "fiix the border" and adding that he "stood up to Joe Biden on the border." However, in February 2022, amid a massive surge in illegal migrants passing through the border, Allred told CBS News in a podcast that the 2022 midterms would be about inflation and the economy.
"I think some of those others may fall into, kind of, the right-wing echo chamber," Allred told CBS News. "I don't hear a lot about the border here in Dallas, and I'm in a border state. Obviously, we want to have comprehensive immigration reform. We want to try and, you know, address some of these things."
Meanwhile, Cruz in December 2021 sounded the alarm when authorities apprehended a Saudi Arabian migrant linked to terrorists.
"The #BidenBorderCrisis by the numbers: 173,620 illegal aliens crossed in November. That’s over 100,000 more than last year. 13,959 unaccompanied minors," Cruz posted on social media.
Weeks later in January, Cruz again sounded the alarm when more fentanyl than heroin was intercepted at the border. In April 2022, Cruz said "every city in America" is a border city.
But now, Allred is trying to position himself as all caught up and the answer to the border problems.
"I'm Colin Allred. Fentanyl is flooding into our country. Our border is broken, and so are our politics. To fix it, we have to go after the cartels and fix the border," Allred says in the ad.
In a January 2018 town hall, Allred called the border wall "racist," pledging to tear it down, according to CNN.
Then just last October, when Biden announced construction of new sections of a wall in Starr County, Allred called it a "necessary step to help Texas' overwhelmed border communities deal with this current surge of migrants."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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