The Texas Democrat says he can find ‘common ground’ with Trump’s future border czar

Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar is already preparing to work with incoming border czar Tom Homan to improve border security.

Cuellar, whose district borders Mexico, argued on behalf of to work with Homan as his fellow Democrats prepared to openly defy his support for mass deportations. Although Cuellar said he would like to see more details on border policy, he emphasized that there are already plenty of things that can be done right now.

“We can deport people quickly under Title A, we can do ‘stay in Mexico,’ we can do so many things on policies that can work immediately,” Cuellar said Tuesday. “Actually, I communicated today with Tom and we talked about getting together sometime when I come back to DC in the next week or so, and I think we can find a lot of common ground.”

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, insists there can be common ground between the Democratic and Republican parties on border security. (Christopher Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cuellar added that he reached out to Homan himself, who was also open to discussions.

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“It tells me that Tom knows what’s going to work and I can give him my experience. It’s interesting that Tom and I talk together. We may not agree on everything, but we can certainly agree to quickly deport the criminals, national security people, the 1.3 million final deportees who have a final deportation order and are still here,” he said. “Some of the recent crossers are some of the people we have to look at. So there are a lot of things that I think we can do and Mexico have certainly done a lot, but they can do a lot, a lot, a lot more by stopping fentanyl and stopping people from coming in.”

Cuellar said he plans to meet with incoming border czar Tom Homan next week. (Getty Images)

Cuellar urged his fellow Democrats to talk to Homan on the border, stressing that there are things both parties can agree on when it comes to border security.

“I told some of the Democrats you can agree to deport criminals, right? Some of them balked. Some of them balked. And I told them it would be a mistake if the Democrats can’t even agree to deport criminals,” Cuellar said.

He also believed that President-elect Trump’s threat of tariffs against Mexico will ultimately motivate the country to help negotiate the border.

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“Well, let me put it this way: Laredo is the biggest port; we handle 40% of all trade between the United States and Mexico. I know this is a way to negotiate, get some leverage. I know Mexico will come to table,” he replied.

“But nobody wants a 25 percent tariff on them, and the Mexicans are threatening to do the same, and we don’t want to get into that,” Cuellar said. “But I think this will definitely bring Mexico to the table so we can solve the problem of immigration and fentanyl.”

Cuellar has criticized the Biden administration for its poor handling of the border. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Cuellar has been a frequent critic of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party for ignoring and sometimes exacerbating the border crisis and deporting migrants overwhelming border towns.

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