--- title: Republican Debate: Ted Cruz Fires Back at Rubio in Spanish description: The Texas Senator had some words in Spanish for Marco Rubio canonical: https://time.com/4224276/republican-debate-ted-cruz-spanish-marco-rubio/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-14T03:59:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:04:08.610Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ted Cruz Fires Back at Marco Rubio in Spanish at Republican Debate og:description: The Texas Senator had some words in Spanish for Marco Rubio og:url: https://time.com/4224276/republican-debate-ted-cruz-spanish-marco-rubio/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b14d7c5bed72204/69887d9b428a9e7641cd1643/ted-cruz-gop-debate-south-carolina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: GOP 2016 Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Fires Back at Marco Rubio in Spanish at Republican Debate twitter:description: The Texas Senator had some words in Spanish for Marco Rubio twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b14d7c5bed72204/69887d9b428a9e7641cd1643/ted-cruz-gop-debate-south-carolina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Fires Back at Marco Rubio in Spanish at Republican Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 14, 2016 3:59 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during the CBS News Republican presidential debate at the Peace Center in Greenville, S.C., on Feb. 13, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during the CBS News Republican presidential debate at the Peace Center in Greenville, S.C., on Feb. 13, 2016. John Bazemore—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 14, 2016 3:59 AM UTC Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz got into a heated exchange about immigration reform at the[ Republican presidential debate](http://time.com/4220407/republican-debate-south-carolina/) on Saturday—with Cruz firing back in Spanish in an attempt to get in the last word. Cruz had again accused Rubio of supporting “amnesty” in the U.S. Senate, accusing the junior Senator from Florida of saying so in an interview on the Spanish-language television network Univision. That’s when things got nasty—and bilingual. “I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish,” Rubio retorted. Cruz then responded in Spanish, taunting Rubio. “Ahora mismo, díselo en Español si tu quieres” the Senator from Texas said, which roughly translates to “Right now, say it in Spanish. 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