Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) said President Joe Biden must address the “pull factor” of the border crisis and urged the administration to follow through on detentions and deportations.
“The pull factor right now is that, as long as people are coming to the border, and they feel that they’re hitting a speed bump, and they’re being released and waiting four, five, six years for an adjudication, then they’re going to keep coming,” Cuellar said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
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“If we don’t address that by addressing detention, giving them the quick hearing and then deporting, most of them are going to be deported because the asylum cases — if you look at the last 25 years, 87% are going to be rejected. So, why are we allowing 100% while we ought to be looking at smaller points?” the congressman continued.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has bused tens of thousands of migrants to different Democratic-led cities such as Chicago, Denver, and New York City since April 2022 to alleviate the growing number of asylum-seekers in Texas.
The Department of Justice has warned Abbott that if Texas enforces a new state law that will allow state officials to arrest people they suspect are illegally in the nation, it will “pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.”
When asked about whether he supports the DOJ possibly suing Abbott, Cuellar said he understands and joins Texas in its “frustration” toward the crisis at the southern border — but pointed to an existing federal law that says those who enter the country illegally once receive a misdemeanor, and “if you keep doing it, it becomes a felony.”
“So, there’s already something there,” Cuellar said, adding that “it’s about time that the federal government starts enforcing the books.”
Cuellar is one of a handful of Democrats joining Republicans in admonishing the Biden administration for its approach to the southern border. The Texas congressman has previously said that the influx of illegal immigrants at the southern border is “hurting” the president’s 2024 reelection campaign.
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“My district is about 80% Hispanic Democratic, and guess what? When I go to church or when I go to the store, what are people telling me?” Cuellar said on Dec. 19. “‘Henry, you got to secure the border. We got to do something.’”
He added that there is a growing “resentment” between Hispanics who arrived in the country legally and Democrats who are not taking action to secure the border.
