--- title: Republican Debate: Here Are the News Stories Mentioned description: Mostly about Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4238273/republican-debate-donald-trump-polish-workers-vicente-fox/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-26T04:17:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:18.049Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here Are the News Stories Mentioned at the GOP Debate og:description: The stories you may have missed. og:url: https://time.com/4238273/republican-debate-donald-trump-polish-workers-vicente-fox/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a412bc21b2db723/69887f378e06014782464c87/presidential-candidates-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-ben-carson-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4112 og:image:height: 2313 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL GOP Debate Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich appear og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here Are the News Stories Mentioned at the GOP Debate twitter:description: The stories you may have missed. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a412bc21b2db723/69887f378e06014782464c87/presidential-candidates-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-ben-carson-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are the News Stories Mentioned at the GOP Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7b41e00c-bb95-4225-9a66-951b1d65ced5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the Tenth Republican Debate In Less Than Three Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Tenth Republican Debate In Less Than Three Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GCycSNfJ.m3u8) (2:57)  _Published 2016-02-26_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 26, 2016 4:17 AM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 26, 2016 4:17 AM UTC If you were watching the Republican debate Thursday, you might have needed footnotes at times. At the last debate before the crucial Super Tuesday primaries, the five candidates worked hard to hit each other on past controversies, some of which you may have missed. TIME sifted through the debate transcript and compiled a guide to some of the news stories referenced by the candidates, either directly or indirectly. **Immigration** In a nod to the inclusion of Telemundo, a Spanish-language television network, the debate started with a testy debate on immigration reform. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asked to critique Donald Trump’s immigration plan, which would involve letting “the good ones” stay. In response, Cruz name-dropped the Wall Street _Journal._ --- > “” --- [_“The Thorny Economics of Illegal Immigration,”_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-thorny-economics-of-illegal-immigration-1454984443)Wall Street_Journal_, Feb. 9, 2016 Donald Trump has said that as president he will build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and the Mexican government will pay for it. Leaders in the Mexican government—both current and former—have said that’s not going to happen. In response to a recent, expletive-laden statement by President Vicente Fox, Trump had this to say. --- > “” --- [_“Vicente Fox: “I am not going to pay for that f–king wall,”_](http://time.com/4237744/vicente-fox-donald-trump-wall-mexico/) _Fusion_, Feb. 25, 2016 **Trump’s Legal Troubles** Sen. Marco Rubio called on the audience to fact-check Donald Trump during a testy exchange about hiring foreign workers. Trump’s recent history with hiring was the subject of a [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/us/politics/donald-trump-taps-foreign-work-force-for-his-florida-club.html?%5Fr=0) article published on Thursday, but Rubio dug back deeper for this particular jab. --- > “” --- [_“Trump Says He Didn’t Know He Employed Illegal Aliens,”_](http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/13/nyregion/trump-says-he-didn-t-know-he-employed-illegal-aliens.html)New York _Times, 7/13/1990_ [_“After 15 Years in Court, Workers’ Lawsuit Against Trump Faces Yet Another Delay,”_](http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/14/nyregion/after-15-years-in-court-workers-lawsuit-against-trump-faces-yet-another-delay.html?pagewanted=all) New York _Times_, 6/14/1998 Cruz piggybacked off of Rubio, who called the embattled Trump University a “fake school,” lambasting Trump over the pending legal case regarding his private, for-profit school. --- > “” --- [_“What the Legal Battle Over Trump University Reveals About Its Founder,”_](http://time.com/4101290/what-the-legal-battle-over-trump-university-reveals-about-its-founder/)TIME_, 11/5/2015_ **Diversity** Maria Celeste Arraras of Telemundo questioned whether the two Hispanic candidates on Thursday’s stage were missing an opportunity to expand the Republican Party by not making any explicit efforts to appeal to Latino voters, an indirect reference to a scathing audit of the Republican Party’s performance during the 2012 election. Sen. Cruz suggested the depiction of the Hispanic community itself was off: --- > “” --- Read the Republican Party’s 2012 audit [here](http://goproject.gop.com/rnc%5Fgrowth%5Fopportunity%5Fbook%5F2013.pdf). ## Transcript We're live here at the University of Houston for the tenth Republican Presidential Debate. We're getting record- setting numbers. I think I have something to do with that. We are building a new Republican Party. On the stage tonight there are two descendants of immigrants of Cuban origin and an African American. We are the party of diversity, not the Democratic Party. [ APPLAUSE ] We have always welcomed legal immigrants, but I think it is a mistake To forgive those who break the law to allow them to become US citizens. So you're the only person on the stage that's ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. You hired some workers from Poland. No, no I'm the only one on the stage that's hired people. You haven't hired anybody. [ LAUGH ] If you wanna know who actually will secure the borders and follow through, you ought to ask who has a record before they were a candidate for President. The problem with President Reagan Is we didn't get in there and actually finish the border. The wall just got ten feet taller believe me. [ APPLAUSE ] If you build the wall the way he build Trump towers, he'll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it. [ APPLAUSE ] Justice Roberts was strongly recommended and pushed by Ted. Justice Roberts gave us Obamacare might as well be called Robert's care. If you're small business owner Donald Trump's socialized medicine, putting the government in charge of your healthcare would kill more jobs than Obamacare. I'll tell you this- Senator. As President I will repeal every word of Obamacare. Thank you. We're gonna have private health care. But I will not allow people to die on the sidewalks and the streets of our country if I'm President. You may let it and you may be find with it. So does the government pay for everyone's healthcare? I'm not fine with it Keep kicking the can down the road, we're gonna face this sooner or later. But I would love to see regime change in North Korea. Kim Jong- un is an unstable person. If he ever shoots a missile at us it will be the last thing he ever does. The next President of the United States will not be able to serve four to eight years without dealing with the national debt. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when we have a debt crisis I've got a plan to take to Washington, and I will have it there in the first hundred days and it will include shipping welfare, education, transportation, Medicaid and job training back to us, so we can begin to in the States to be the laboratories of innovation. ANd that is what this country needs, jobs, jobs and jobs! [ APPLAUSE ] I'm asking you tonight, America. To join hands with me to heal, inspire, and revive America. If not us, who, and if not now, when? I will hit the ground running, and we will get America moving again. The time for games is over. I know you've had a lot of choices to make, but now it's time to narrow it down and I'm asking you to get behind me. There's several deal makers on this stage, but there's only one person who's consistently stood up to both parties, fighting for the American people against Against the Washington deal. I will get it done. Politicians will never ever get it done and we will make America great again. 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