(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Wednesday that Democratic politicians who oppose federal intervention to quell violence from rioters are similar to Democrats like former Commissioner of Public Safety for Birmingham, Ala., Bull Connor, who opposed desegregation.
“What the federal government is quite reasonably doing is sending federal law enforcement agencies to protect federal buildings, protect federal courthouses, and I've never seen anything like it,” Cruz said about Democrat politicians’ opposition to the federal government providing law enforcement to protect federal property from rioters in certain cities.
“Actually -- you know what, I said never seen anything like it. Yes, I have,” Cruz told “Fox News at Night with Shannon Bream” on Wednesday.
The senator compared the Democratic reaction to federal intervention to the pushback that Democrats had decades ago to the desegregation of schools.
“What these Democrats are doing is the same thing we saw Democrats do in the 1950s in '60s. It's the same thing Democratic politicians like Bull Connor did. It's the same thing that you saw Democratic racists who didn't want to segregate schools -- remember Eisenhower sent in the Army and said you're going to follow, you're going to follow Brown versus Board of Education, and you had elected Democrats and they were all Democrats who were enforcing Jim crow, who said, get your federal officers out of here,” Cruz added.
Cruz introduced a bill allowing residents affected by rioters to sue city and state officials for triple the damages they suffered for injuries or damage to their home or business as a result of officials not doing their job and protecting them.
The RECLAIM Act, which stands for Restitution for Economic Losses Caused by Leaders Who Allow Insurrection and Mayhem, “would hold state and local officials liable when rioters establish lawless ‘autonomous zones' and officials abdicate their duty to protect their citizens,” according to a press release.
It “would allow for treble damages, enabling plaintiffs in autonomous zones to recover triple the amount of actual damages caused to his or her property that were sustained as a result of rioting. This legislation would create a new cause of action to empower the victims of violence in so-called autonomous zones to take legal action against lawmakers who tolerate or encourage such zones.”
“In addition, the RECLAIM Act removes or limits federal grant assistance for local governments that bar police forces from protecting citizens or their property inside law enforcement free zones,” according to Cruz’s website.
“They could sue the city, and they could get triple damages if you have local politicians who are wrongfully denying police protection. You know, this is a really tough time for our country right now,” Cruz said.
“We’re seeing riots across the country. We are seeing violence and police cars being firebombed, police officers being murdered and violent mobs within our cities, but even worse, in the face of that, we are also seeing Democratic politicians, Democratic mayors, Democratic governors who’ve somehow made the decision it's in the political best interest to allow the mob to carry out their violence, and they’re refusing to protect their own citizens,” the senator said.
“They’re allowing these lawless autonomous zones to exist within their boundaries. That has never happened in modern times, and so I introduced this week legislation that if an elected official wrongfully denies their citizens the right to police protection in the situation of a riot, that you can sue them and get triple damages for any injuries you suffer or for any damage to your home or your business, and a lot of these Democratic politicians sat by as small small businesses were looted and burned to the ground,” he said.
Cruz said that many of the small business owners were African-American or Hispanic, but Democratic politicians didn’t care, because it was in “what they defined as their partisan interest to allow the mob to rage. “
“This shouldn't become complicated. These are pretty simple roles in life. Don't physically hurt somebody else. Don't assault somebody else. Don't burn their business to the ground. Don't murder somebody else, but yes, the violent mobs aren't following that, and in this instance -- so what’s happened is these mobs are attacking federal buildings,” the senator said.
“They’re attacking federal courthouses. It ought to be real simple. If you attack a federal courthouse, the answer ought to be you’re going to be arrested. You're going to be put in jail. You're going to stay in jail a long time. It's real simple. Don't attack a federal courthouse,” he said.
“What the federal government is quite reasonably doing is sending federal law enforcement agencies to protect federal buildings, protect federal courthouses, and I've never seen anything like it. Actually -- you know what, I said never seen anything like it. Yes, I have,” Cruz said.
The senator compared the Democratic reaction to federal intervention to the pushback that Democrats had decades ago to the desegregation of schools.
“What these Democrats are doing is the same thing we saw Democrats do in the 1950s in '60s. It's the same thing Democratic politicians like Bull Connor did. It's the same thing that you saw Democratic racists who didn't want to segregate schools -- remember Eisenhower sent in the Army and said you're going to follow, you're going to follow Brown versus Board of Education, and you had elected Democrats and they were all Democrats who were enforcing Jim crow, who said, get your federal officers out of here,” Cruz added.
He said that Democratic politicians “don't have the ability to throw the federal government out.”
“You don't have the ability to throw federal law enforcement officers out, and you certainly don't have the ability to say we are going to allow the federal courthouse or the federal building to burn.
Cruz said that if Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants protesters to occupy her office, that’s her right, but she doesn’t have the right to allow people to attack federal property.
“You know what? If the Chicago mayor wants to allow the mob to rampage in City Hall and occupy her office, that's her decision. Knock yourself out if you want to give into the lawlessness, but she doesn't have the right to give up the federal courthouse and neither does the mayor of Portland or the governor of Oregon or any of these Democrats who they've made a decision the police are the enemy and the mob are their allies, and it's just -- it's wrong,” the senator added.