--- title: Donald Trump Releases Attack Ad on Ted Cruz description: Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have begun trying to paint each other as hypocrites on immigration, with Trump releasing a new TV ad about Cruz. canonical: https://time.com/4189975/donald-trump-ted-cruz-immigration-ad/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-22T12:58:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:21:29.240Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Releases Attack Ad on Ted Cruz og:description: Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have begun trying to paint each other as hypocrites on immigration, with Trump releasing a new TV ad about Cruz. og:url: https://time.com/4189975/donald-trump-ted-cruz-immigration-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc42a79c943a702e/69887a1a2dce0100499e775c/donald-trump-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Makes Campaign Swing Through Iowa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Releases Attack Ad on Ted Cruz twitter:description: Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have begun trying to paint each other as hypocrites on immigration, with Trump releasing a new TV ad about Cruz. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc42a79c943a702e/69887a1a2dce0100499e775c/donald-trump-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Releases Attack Ad on Ted Cruz > 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 [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 22, 2016 12:58 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum on January 19, 2016 in Winterset, Iowa. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum on January 19, 2016 in Winterset, Iowa. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 22, 2016 12:58 PM UTC Donald Trump and Ted Cruz’s [rivalry](http://time.com/4181973/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa/) escalated Friday when Trump released an attack ad specifically about Cruz and his stance on immigration. The ad paints Cruz as soft on illegal immigration, playing clips of him stumbling over answers about the “Gang of Eight” comprehensive immigration reform bill he added amendments to in 2013. In reality, Cruz opposed the bill. As [the Huffington _Post_ reported](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/ted-cruz-voter-id-immigration%5Fn%5F3456063.html) at the time, Cruz voted three times against moving the bill forward, and was “considered unwinnable as a “yes” vote for the legislation as a whole.” **Read More:** [_Trump: Cruz Is ‘Worse Than Hillary’_](http://time.com/4186862/donald-trump-ted-cruz-hillary-clinton/) The amendments he added, which would take away a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and tie voter identification to the bill, were meant to serve as poison pills for the package as a whole. Hypocrisy on immigration is a line of attack that Cruz has seized on against Trump as well. The Texas senator tweeted this Thursday, also referencing the “Gang of Eight” bill: > [](https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/690184926633824256) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4189975/donald-trump-ted-cruz-immigration-ad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4189975/donald-trump-ted-cruz-immigration-ad/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Releases Attack Ad on Ted Cruz","datePublished":"2016-01-22T12:58:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:21:29.240Z","description":"Their immigration fight is getting heated","url":"https://time.com/4189975/donald-trump-ted-cruz-immigration-ad/","keywords":["Donald Trump","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc42a79c943a702e/69887a1a2dce0100499e775c/donald-trump-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc42a79c943a702e/69887a1a2dce0100499e775c/donald-trump-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Makes Campaign Swing Through Iowa","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum on January 19, 2016 in Winterset, Iowa.","creditText":"Aaron P. 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