WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump is taking his attacks on Ted Cruz's immigration record to the airwaves, accusing him of backing "amnesty."
The ad features footage of Cruz struggling to explain why he backed an amendment to a bipartisan immigration bill that would have given undocumented immigrants legal status rather than a pathway to citizenship, as the labels "pro immigration" and "pro amnesty" are slapped onscreen.
"I want immigration reform to pass, and that allows those that are here illegally to come out of the shadows," Cruz says in a clip from the Senate debate used in the ad.
The ad is running in all early-voting states, according to Trump's campaign.
Trump and Cruz are running neck-and-neck in Iowa with less than 10 days to go until the early-caucus state heads to the polls, and have been attacking one another with increasing ferocity in recent days.
Trump also has a new radio ad out featuring high praise from Jerry Falwell, Jr., who says he sees "a lot of parallels" between Trump and his father, one of the most influential leaders on the religious right. That spot could help boost Trump's numbers with Evangelical Christians, a group Cruz has been looking to lock down by attacking Trump's former socially liberal views.