Cruz hits Megyn Kelly on ‘liberal journalist’ question

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) late Tuesday became the latest GOP presidential candidate to criticize Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.

Cruz rebuked Kelly for questioning him about deporting illegal immigrants during an appearance on “The Kelly File.”

“If you have a husband and wife who are illegal immigrants, and they have two children here who are American citizens — would you deport all of them? Would you deport the American citizen children?” Kelly asked.

“Megyn, I get that that’s the question you want to ask,” Cruz said after repeatedly listing the steps Congress should take for addressing the issue. “That’s also the question every mainstream media liberal journalist wants to ask. They focus exclusively on 12 million people.”

Kelly then took issue with Cruz’s response, insisting that her question was fair.

“Is it an unfair question?” she asked the Texas lawmaker, noting, “Mr. Trump answered that question explicitly last night on ‘The O’Reilly Factor.’ Will you do so now?”

“It is a distraction from how we actually solve the problem,” Cruz responded. “You know, it’s also the question that [President] Barack Obama wants to focus on.”

“But why is it so hard? Why don’t you just say yes or no?” Kelly countered.

Cruz argued that the U.S. must secure its borders and overturn Obama’s executive order on immigration before addressing the issue of birthright citizenship and related deportations.

Cruz’s remarks come as Kelly is also feuding with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination next year.

Trump has repeatedly challenged Kelly’s credibility as a journalist following her questioning of him during the first GOP presidential debate earlier this month.

Cruz and Trump have repeatedly struck a friendly tone toward one another while campaigning for next year’s election.

Cruz has vowed he is avoiding Republican-on-Republican attacks because it is counterproductive to the conservative cause.

This article was updated at 5:50 p.m.