Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) said he has told President Joe Biden many times that the United States needs to take more aggressive action at the southern border as illegal immigrants head into Texas and other states.
Cuellar said many illegal immigrants are evading border officials, adding the U.S. needs to be more aggressive in its response if it wants to stem the surge that has been underway since Biden took office.
BROKEN BORDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ARRESTS UNDER BIDEN EXCEED OBAMA’S EIGHT YEARS
“If you don’t deport people, they will see the border as a speed bump,” Cuellar said on The Faulkner Focus. “We have to deport people. We have to deport people who aren’t supposed to be here.”
He said the number of deportations under former President Donald Trump was less than the number of deportations under former President Barack Obama “because of the repercussions.”
“You have to have the right repercussions,” he added.
While not expressing a desire for a physical barrier at the border, the Texas representative said he would like to see more personnel, technology, and cameras in the area to assist with apprehending those evading the lawful immigration process, drawing on a football analogy.
“Playing defense on the one-yard line called the U.S. border is one thing,” he said. “We have to play defense on the 20-yard line.”
He added that he has “tried and I have tried and I have tried” to tell the president that more needs to be done to secure the border.
“For many years, I’ve said that we need to make sure we do the right thing at the border,” Cuellar said.
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The number of encounters at the border has soared this year. Since Sept. 19, a record 2 million encounters with illegal immigrants have occurred at the southern border. Based on data from Border Patrol, this is up 25% from last year. In 2019, under the Trump administration, there were less than a million encounters at the border.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, have been sending immigrants by planes and buses to several sanctuary cities across the country, such as Washington, D.C.
, Chicago
, and New York City
.
