FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said the situation at the southern border has fundamentally changed, calling the difference between the Biden administration and President Donald Trump’s return to office “night and day.”

Cruz made the remarks during an appearance on Fort Wayne’s Morning News with Kayla Blakeslee, as the show broadcast live from Washington, D.C., amid events marking the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary.

“It is truly stunning,” Cruz said. “With President Trump back in office, illegal border crossings have dropped more than 99 percent. It was immediate.”

Border enforcement and policy shifts

Cruz, who represents a border state, said the Biden administration presided over what he described as the worst illegal immigration crisis in U.S. history, with more than 12 million people crossing into the country unlawfully.

“What we saw during the four years of the Biden presidency was an absolute crisis,” Cruz said. “We had full-on open borders.”

He recounted spending time on midnight patrols with U.S. Border Patrol agents during those years, saying encounters with groups crossing illegally happened within minutes.

“They wouldn’t even try to avoid you,” Cruz said. “They would find you and turn themselves in, because under Joe Biden the Border Patrol was forced to ask them, ‘Where do you want to go?’”

Cruz said migrants were then transported to cities across the country, a policy he argued encouraged further crossings. That approach, he said, ended when Trump returned to office.

“The single biggest reason is we now have a president who will follow the law,” Cruz said. “Under Joe Biden, they were openly defying the law.”

Enforcement as deterrence

Cruz said immigration outcomes hinge on what happens after someone is apprehended.

“If the answer is you put them on a plane and fly them back to the country they came from, they pull out their cell phone and tell their friends, ‘Don’t come,’” he said. “If the answer is you put them on a bus or plane and send them wherever they want in America, they tell their friends, ‘Come on in. The door is open.’”

He argued that Biden’s approach had no precedent in American history, noting that even former President Barack Obama, whom Cruz strongly opposed politically, largely enforced immigration law.

“Barack Obama deported millions of people,” Cruz said. “The left called him the deporter in chief. What Biden did was simply say, ‘We’re going to let them go.’”

Public misunderstanding and media divides

Asked what Americans most misunderstand about immigration, Cruz pointed to political polarization and what he described as competing media echo chambers.

“We’re so divided, so polarized and tribalized,” Cruz said. “The right listens to right-wing media, the left listens to left-wing media, and we don’t talk to each other.”

Cruz accused former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre of misleading the public about border conditions and said he repeatedly challenged her claims through his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.

“I offered to take her to the border anytime and wager $10,000 that within an hour we’d encounter illegal immigrants,” Cruz said. “Unsurprisingly, she didn’t respond.”

Fraud, accountability and national security

Cruz also raised concerns about large-scale fraud tied to immigration and public assistance programs, citing ongoing federal prosecutions in Minnesota related to alleged Medicaid fraud.

“We need to follow the money,” Cruz said. “That’s how you shut this down. Go after the people writing the checks and funding this.”

He said he has urged federal officials to pursue accountability not just for individuals committing fraud, but also for political leaders who allowed it to happen.

“I want to see the politicians prosecuted,” Cruz said. “We need accountability.”

America at 250 and the Founding Fathers

As the conversation turned toward history and the nation’s 250th anniversary, Cruz said the founding era remains the most compelling period of American history to him.

“To sit at a table with James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin — that would be incredible,” Cruz said.

While he said Washington is the founder he most admires, Cruz identified Madison as his favorite.

“Madison is considered the father of the Constitution,” Cruz said. “Other than the Bible, which was written by God, the Constitution is the greatest work ever written by mankind.”

Cruz praised Washington’s decision to step down after two terms as president, calling it one of the most consequential acts in world history.

“If offered the crown, very few human beings would turn it down,” Cruz said. “Washington did.”

Lighter moments on the air

The interview concluded with a rapid-fire segment that offered a lighter look at the Texas senator. Cruz said he prefers late nights to early mornings, committee hearings over floor votes, Dr Pepper over coffee, Tom Petty over Kid Rock, and Texas weather over Washington traffic.

“You can’t shovel sunshine,” Cruz said.

Despite admitting he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, Cruz said cheese and salt beat dessert any day.

“Quesadilla,” he said with a laugh.

Blakeslee thanked Cruz for his time, closing the interview by noting the mix of serious policy discussion and humor as the nation looks ahead to its milestone anniversary.