Ted Cruz leads conservative charge against 'Gang of 8' immigration bill

In a letter delivered to U.S. Senators Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined three other Republicans in urging opposition to the Gang of 8's proposed legislation -- a measure, the group claims, would "leave our borders unsecure and our immigration system deeply dysfunctional."

Specifically, the letter from Sens. Cruz, Mike Lee (R-UT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) outlines several key "areas of concern" in the current bill which preclude their support:

• Provides immediate legalization without securing the border
• Rewards criminal aliens, absconders, and deportees and undermines law enforcement
• Contains extremely dangerous national security loopholes
• Facilitates fraud in our immigration system
• Creates no real penalties for illegal immigrants and rewards them with entitlements
• Delays for years the implementation of E-Verify
• Does not fix our legal immigration system
• Advanced through a process predicated on a deal struck before markup
• Rewards those who have broken our laws by offering a special path to citizenship

See the letter's full text after the jump!

Letter from Sens. Cruz, Sessions, Lee, Grassley Voicing Concerns with S. 744 by Senator Ted Cruz