Immigration bill opponent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Tuesday read a letter on the floor stating that the pending legislation is “nothing more than thinly disguised human trafficking” as part of his explanation on why his amendment that would restrict undocumented immigrants from the national health care law should pass.

Cruz was talking on the floor and reading a letter from a constituent about her small business and its workers — “many of those in [the] plant are legal immigrants from Vietnam.” The letter insinuated that supporters of the immigration bill want it to pass so those workers could be replaced by “Obamacare-exempted” ones, even though there are Republicans who support the bill who clearly do not support the president’s health care law.

From the Cruz speech that included the constituent note:

“They, too, came here the right way and endured much hardship to earn their citizen status. What am I to tell them? That their sacrifice is meaningless? That they just should have snuck in? That their citizenship has no value? That the joke is on them? Well, I would never exercise the option of replacing them with cheaper Obamacare-exempted workers. Would they not be justified in questioning the motives of and validity of a government which would even consider giving an employer that option? What has this nation come to? It is getting harder and harder to recognize America. A nation which once proudly held fast to the virtues of liberty and freedom is now seriously contemplating a law which amounts to nothing more than thinly disguised human trafficking.”

real problem
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UPDATE: Cruz’s office clarified that the speech on the floor was citing a letter and that he had not written the words himself. This post has been updated to reflect that change.