True, Cruz has talked about the need to “secure the borders first.” He even started a website called www.securebordersnow.com. But the promoters of the non-citizenship version of amnesty also talk about securing the border first–it just turns out that they probably only mean Congress has to pass a border bill before it passes a legalization bill.

Doesn’t Cruz mean the borders have to actually be secured? That’s what I thought, especially after hearing this speech, where Cruz makes all sorts of won’t-get-fooled-again noises and talks about how different the immigration conversation will look “once the borders are secure and we’ve managed to stop illegal immigration.”

But then I went and read the actual words of Cruz’s online petition, which says only that

“any immigration reform must lead with real border security first”

[Emphasis on weasel words added.] Call me paranoid, but I now suspect there’s not really any difference between Cruz and the quietly pro-amnesty Boehner-camp position, as recently outlined by Rep. Goodlatte. Cruz won’t insist on securing the borders (and waiting to make sure) before he takes up legalization. He’s willing to support a bill that starts (“leads”) with an enforcement provision and ends with an amnesty provision, as long as the amnesty stops short of granting citizenship. That will come as a surprise to the Tea Partiers who’ve heard his rousing speeches.