Bronx residents blast Ted Cruz over his ‘New York values’ insult and stance on immigration

New York Daily News (New York)

By Chauncey Alcorn and Leonard Greene

April 6, 2016

Bronx residents blast Ted Cruz over his ‘New York values’ insult and stance on immigration 

Value this.

Ted Cruz got the Bronx cheer Wednesday from angry New Yorkers upset over the Republican presidential candidate’s callous “New York values” crack and his harsh stance on immigration.

Cruz was crucified during a stop in the Bronx, where residents and elected leaders derided him for insulting the city and the borough, only to come crawling back begging for money and votes.

“Just because he has a Hispanic last name does not mean he's Hispanic,” said hairstylist Edna Ferrer, 57, who was chastising Cruz supporters outside a campaign event in the Bronx. “His mind is white.”

Moments earlier, the Cruz campaign took a page out of rival Donald Trump’s book, removing one demonstrator from the event when the criticism got too loud.

The heckler got the heave-ho from Sabrosura restaurant on Westchester Ave. in the Soundview section after shouting that Cruz had no business in the Bronx.

Ted Cruz speaks during a campaign event at Sabrosura restaurant on in the Bronx on Wednesday.

“You’re running on an anti-immigrant platform, and you’re speaking in the Bronx,” the demonstrator said. “You should not be here.”

The demonstrator was cheered like a Yankee slugger by fellow protesters after Republican Party staffers removed him from the restaurant.

A day earlier, a group of students from Bronx Lighthouse College Preparatory Academy got Cruz disinvited from an appearance at their school after threatening a walkout.

Cruz, fresh off a big primary win Tuesday in Wisconsin, was in the Bronx campaigning ahead of New York’s April 19 primary.

He insulted the city when he derided “New York values" in an attack on Trump.

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Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. slammed Cruz as a hypocrite earlier — just hours before Cruz met with his father in the Bronx. Ruben Diaz Sr. represents the area in the state Senate.

“Ted Cruz is a hypocrite. He not only offended New Yorkers, he offended Bronxites, and now he’s here today in New York and in the Bronx looking for money and votes,” Diaz Jr. said.

“We in the Bronx know how offensive he’s been. We know the truth about our borough.”

Cruz also drew the ire of New York Democrats after bashing the Bronx at an event in 2014.

“I understand that Manhattan is very concerned with their security with the Bronx,” Cruz said “But it’s a little bit different on 2,000 miles of the Rio Grande.”

Ted Cruz got an earful from one protester at a rally in the Bronx who said the candidate who is “running on an anti-immigration platform” has no business in the Bronx.

Diaz said Cruz was out of line.

“Everything good we’ve done, we’ve done it with New York values. Our values are strong in New York and for him to come here looking for votes and coming for money is at the highest levels of hypocrisy,” Diaz said during a press conference of Latino lawmakers from the Bronx in support of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. “Hopefully, he’ll learn a lesson about how wrong his words are.”

Cruz is counting on support from New York evangelicals, which is why he was scheduled to meet with the borough president’s father, who is also a conservative minister.

Rodrigo Venegas, 33, who goes by RodStarz, and his brother, Gonzalo Venegas, 29, known as G1, the duo behind the socially conscious rap group Rebel Diaz, said they were told to leave the restaurant.

“We weren’t going to let Ted Cruz come to the Bronx and not face him and let him know he’s not welcome,” Rodrigo Venegas said. “The Bronx has historically been a community that has fought back and that’s what we did.”

Ted Cruz can go back to Canada if he doesn't like New York.

Cruz, meanwhile, doubled down on his New York values insult attacking Donald Trump and a string of “liberal Democrats” for policies and positions that have been “hammering” the state.

Cruz had harsh words for Mayor de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo, Rep. Charles Rangel and disgraced pols Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner in his soliloquy about all that is wrong with New York.

Asked what he meant by “New York values,” Cruz defined the term as values held by liberal politicians who reject charter schools, school choice and support for fearless police officers.

“Those are the values, the values of the New York liberal politicians that have been hammering the people of this great state,” Cruz said, tagging de Blasio as the worst offender.

“Every time there is a confrontation between criminals and cops, he sides with the criminals, looters and rioters instead of the police officers.”

Cruz said he was proud of cops who turned their backs on de Blasio at the funerals for NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were slain in December 2014.

“I cheered for those New York cops and people across America did,” Cruz said.

He also blasted de Blasio for trying to close charter schools in Harlem. “He is captive to the union bosses that control him,” Cruz said.

A de Blasio spokeswoman fired back, urging Cruz to “be a man.”

“Start sounding more presidential and less extremist. Talk about New York City’s job growth, low crime rates, need for more affordable housing, parental leave and the city's successful pre-K effort. Bring people together. Stop dividing them,” said de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton.

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