Texas Democrat's illegal immigration positions could come back to haunt him in bid to oust Ted Cruz

The likely Democrat nominee in Texas' upcoming Senate race has taken a number of positions on illegal immigration that could complicate his aim of unseating incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz as the border crisis sits front and center on voters' minds.

Although Democrat Rep. Collin Allred, who represents Texas' 32nd Congressional District, wants to "surge resources" to help Border Patrol, he has consistently opposed efforts to ban sanctuary cities, supported a pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S., referred to the border wall as "racist," and opposed multiple pieces of legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.

Allred launched his campaign for the Senate last May, and has so far vastly outraised his Democrat primary opponents. Recent polls also show him as the favorite to win the nomination in a possible runoff against Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez.

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However, a possible general election matchup against Cruz will likely pose a tougher challenge considering the border and illegal immigration are among the top issues that concern voters in the Lone Star state, which continues bearing the brunt of the migrant crisis that's worsened under the Biden administration's watch.

During his first run for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections, Allred was a leading crusader against S.B. 4, a bill passed by the Texas legislature that effectively banned sanctuary cities by requiring local law enforcement "to comply with federal immigration laws and detainer requests," as well as creating criminal penalties for not enforcing the law.

"Following this national trend trying to act tough on immigration is not the Texas way," Allred said in a 2017 interview with Medium, adding that the bill was "misguided and discriminatory," and that it would "be a stain" on Texas history.

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A few days after the interview was published, Allred continued raling against the bill in a lengthy Facebook post, calling it "cruel" and "inhumane."

"It is an insult to the generations of Latinos and others who built this state. I condemn this law, and call for its immediate repeal," he wrote.

Allred has also been a vocal proponent of providing a pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. illegally, a view he expressed in an Aug. 2018 interview with the then-left-wing podcast Millennial Politics. 

In the interview, Allred said the country needed "to have comprehensive immigration reform that will provide a pathway to citizenship," described such a policy as "humane," and didn't deny supporting a potential decriminalization of illegal immigration when asked specifically by the host.

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"I think it’s all going to come down to a comprehensive reform that will set forward the pathway that we’re going to have to follow and that includes what that pathway to citizenship will be and how we will carry that out," Allred said.

What appears to be Allred's relaxed approach to the border has continued into the more recent past despite the historic numbers of migrants crossing into the U.S. as well as the increase in chaos surrounding human and drug trafficking.

Last year, he opposed H.R. 2494, a bill that would have made assaulting law enforcement officers, firefighters or other first responders a deportable offense, and H.R. 3941, a bill that would have prohibited school facilities that receive federal funding from housing any illegal immigrants.

Both bills passed the Republican-controlled House, but currently sit stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Additionally, Allred referred to the border wall as "racist," and called for it to be torn down, according to a report published last year by the Daily Caller citing video footage of Allred from 2018.

"I’ll tell you what, if they build that racist wall, my generation is the one that will tear it down. We are not going to have a wall in this country," Allred said. 

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In another video cited by the outlet, Allred said, "I wanna briefly talk about this racist wall. The symbol of this country cannot be a fence with barbed wire on top of it. It has to remain the Statute of Liberty. I’ll tell you what. If they build that wall, my generation will be the one that tears it down. We will not have this in this country. We will not have this wall in our country." 

"We are not going to waste billions of dollars on a racist campaign promise, and we are not going to turn the symbol of this country into a wall with barbed wire on top of it," he added.

When reached for comment, Allred told Fox News Digital, "Our immigration system is broken, and to fix it we need real solutions that secure our border, surge resources to Border Patrol and our border communities, create a pathway to earned citizenship for Dreamers and reform our system to better meet the needs of our economy."

"When given the opportunity to actually do something, Ted Cruz put politics over a bipartisan border security bill backed by the Border Patrol Union," he added.

Fox News Digital has also reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for comment.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.