Ted Cruz Says Obama Has 'Inflames Racial Tensions'

2016 presidential hopeful Ted Cruz recently spoke out regarding the protests in Baltimore, Maryland over the death of Freddie Gray, saying that he blames President Barack Obama for "inflaming racial tensions."

While speaking at an event hosted by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Texas Sen. Cruz said that the president has not done enough to calm racial tensions in the U.S.

"President Obama, when he was elected, he could have been a unifying leader," Cruz said at the hosted question and answer session, as reported by The Christian Post.

The GOP presidential hopeful went on to add that the president "has made decisions that I think have inflamed racial tensions, that have divided us rather than bringing us tougher."

Cruz went on to argue that vilifying law enforcement officials in the U.S. only hurts the minority population.

"The vilification of law enforcement has been fundamentally wrong and it has hurt the minority community," Cruz added.

For the past several days, protesters in Baltimore, Maryland have taken to the streets to voice their opposition to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal injury following his arrest in late April.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who is also running in the 2016 presidential election, also spoke out on the recent Baltimore protests, telling radio host Laura Ingraham that although he thinks the Baltimore protests are primarily a concern for the local government, he believes the federal government could do more to deter violent rioting.

"It obviously is a local problem, primarily. But you do have to have enough show of security, enough of show of a police force, to deter the kind of action," Paul told Ingraham this week.