Cruz Won't Speak at Texas A&M International Graduation

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz won't be speaking at Texas A&M International's graduation this spring, the university announced Friday. 

In a brief statement, the school said it was notified that Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate, is "regrettably unable to join us" at the May event. No reason was given, but the school said it "looks forward to a future opportunity to welcome Sen. Cruz to TAMIU."

That announcement comes a day after the school confirmed that Cruz had reached out and offered to appear at the May 22 commencement. Plans were never finalized, but students at the Laredo school were told that the ceremony schedule may be changed. 

A&M-International has about 7,000 students. Usually, graduation is broken into three separate ceremonies, but those would have been combined into one event to accommodate the presidential candidate. 

The trip to Laredo would have given Cruz another opportunity to visit Texas' border with Mexico. Cruz has been criticized for only taking three trips to the region since being elected in 2012. Sen. John Cornyn, the senior Texas Republican in the Senate, has visited 13 times in that same span.