Cuellar: We’re Not Deporting Anywhere Near Enough People, So ‘They’re Going to Keep Coming’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) argued that we’re only deporting a small fraction of people crossing the border and “the numbers don’t add up” and you must “have real repercussions, and I mean deport people, otherwise, they’re going to keep coming to the U.S.”

Cuellar said, “I get daily reports to see what’s happened at the border, and I said, we’ve got to do something. By that, I’m saying you’ve got to have repercussions at the border. Let’s say we get 10,000 people a day, we’re deporting about 1,000 a day. So, you can see the numbers don’t add up there.”

He continued, “And, again, you’ve got to get the Mexicans to do more. You’ve to do more to get Panama and the other countries, and again, I have encouraged the administration to work out there, stop them before they get over here…once they hit that riverbank, they’re going to ask for asylum. And, as you know, 89 to 90% of the people, once they go in front of a judge, they’re rejected. So, why are we doing this? You’ve got to have repercussions at the border, you’ve got to have the other countries, Mexico and the other countries do more. Otherwise, you see what happens. José, this is very important, 2015, 2019, numbers went down, why — under Obama and under Trump, why? Because we were able to get the Mexicans to do a lot more and stop them at the southern border with Guatemala, and that’s what history shows, play defense on their 20-yard line and have real repercussions, and I mean deport people, otherwise, they’re going to keep coming to the U.S.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett