The below transcript and this link to video is from MSNBC on Dec. 13, 3023.
MSNBC host:
“Want to bring in Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar, who represents a border district. He’s also the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee, uh, for Homeland Security. Congressman, thanks for joining us on this. Um, appreciate it.
So you just heard our report, um, from Julia on the ground there at a key town, um, in Arizona, very remote as well. Um, we’re hearing more detentions, uh, more deportations. That is the plan, it seemed, that’s coming from negotiators. Um, by critics it’s being called, um, Title 42 on steroids. Where do you stand on this?
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
Well, you know, certainly, I, I’m one of those that I believe that we should have detentions and we should deport people that don’t have a legal right to be here.
Look, you know, the asylum law is very clear. You gotta have state persecution based on five things: race, nationality, political belief, religion, uh, part of a social, uh, uh, class. Uh, and if you don’t fit that, you know, you can come here for a job, you can come here for economic reasons, you can come in for so many other reasons. They don’t quality. So why are we allowing everybody to come in? Uh, most people that have come in stay here for five years and then have an immigration judge, uh, deport them.
Uh, I live at the border, and, and we been talking about this since 2013. Uh, and if you look at some of the past experiences that we’ve had with different administrations, I think President, um, Obama, uh, along with Secretary Jay Johnson, I think they had it right. They gave people their, uh, you know, their, their claim to asylum. But at the end of the day, they deported people, they detained people, and they just did one thing. They enforced Title 8.
MSNBC host:
So then, Congressman, wha- what is to be done, if I’m hearing you right? H-, because as Julia said, um, folks are critical of more detentions, more deportations. You’re looking at detentions in perpetuity. There’s really no end in sight. You have folks that are trekking for days upon days with young children, um, then being turned around, um, a- and deported, mistreated. What is the solution then?
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
Well, just what I said. You gotta enforce the law. Look, the, the, the asylum law is very clear.
MSNBC host:
But they’re gonna keep coming.
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
It-
MSNBC host:
They’re gonna keep coming.
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
Yeah, uh, um, I … No, no, no. Let me tell you something. If you, if, if you had repercussions at the border, uh, like we did under President Obama, then the numbers would certainly go down. It won’t eliminate them to a hu-, uh, you know, to zero, but it will bring them down where it’s a lots more manageable do it. If you don’t have repercussions at the border … If you and I were down there and then we said, “Hey look, uh, they gotta … We can get to the US border and then they gonna let us in,” of course, we’re gonna pay the $8,000 to our coyote, uh, to the bad people to come in. But if I had a … If you and I saw that we would probably be held and then deported because we don’t qualify, I would think about that and you would think about that. It’s simple repercussions that you gotta have at the border following what the law is right now.
MSNBC host:
Um, Congressman, your c-, your fellow Congressional Hispanic Caucus members say it’s not right that’s there no Latino representation, um, in any of, of these talks. And along with that, they think it’s setting a dangerous precedent and giving in to Republicans when it comes to immigration, um, reform and getting aid for Ukraine. Where do you stand on this?
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
Well, look, I, I, I respect my colleagues. They certainly have a different opinion. But some of us have been talking about this since 2013. You know, you talk to some of us on the border, we think a little differently. Uh, I don’t have any sanctuary cities. I don’t have any, uh, uh, public officials that say, “Let them in, let them in.” We’ve been dealing with this migrant situation for so many years. Now that New York, now that Chicago, Washington DC, Colorado, Massachusetts, and other places are feeling what we felt, this is what we’ve been talking about this. I don’t call this a Republican idea, because some of us pushed this idea before some of those Republicans were even in office. Uh, we just wanna see one thing at the border. We want to see law and order. We wanna s-, don’t wanna see chaos at the border.
But at the same time, we wanna respect the migrants’, uh, rights and their claim to asylum. But again, the law is very clear. Persecution by a state, by a state based on five things. And those … Uh, most of those folks do not qualify. They do not qualify.
MSNBC host:
Do you think it’s important, sir, to have Latino representation in these talks?
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
Well, you know, uh, Secretary Mayorkas is certainly involved, uh, in, in the talks. Uh, I have talked to some of the folks, uh, about it. Uh, uh, y-, in fact some of the ideas that they’re looking at are ideas that I’ve talked about it. Uh, certainly, uh, you know, the Senate should have, uh, Latinos. But it’s not only Latinos that should be involved. I mean, it’s, it’s one of those things that, you know, we wanna make sure that the migrant rights … because right now, migrants are not coming only from-
MSNBC host:
Right.
Congressman Henry Cuellar:
… Latin America. They’re coming in from 50-plus countries across the world. End.
