Dem Rep. Cuellar: Biden sending ‘mixed message’ on COVID as migrant surge continues
Cuellar joins bipartisan effort to block Biden's rollback of Title 42
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told "Fox & Friends" on Monday that President Biden is sending "mixed messaging" on addressing COVID while enabling the migrant surge at the border.
"I’m not the only Democrat that has reached out. Other Democrats have spoken against this. I live at the border. I don’t just come to visit here just for a few hours. I live down here and I talk to the men and women. I talked to the White House a couple of times before they made the announcement," Cuellar told "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy.
Cuellar said the Biden administration vowed they were going to bring extra personnel from other parts of the country. However, adding more personnel would be temporary because they will have to go back to their jobs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It is very different down here at the border. We are operating with only 40% of the men and women that we have down here," Cuellar said.
Cuellar has signed onto bipartisan House legislation that would block President Biden from lifting existing Title 42 immigration restrictions without a plan in place to address the expected surge of migrants at the Southern border.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}YUMA, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 07: Immigrant men from many countries are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore/Getty Images)
Cuellar joins with fellow Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Greg Stanton of Arizona, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire and Tom O’Halleran of Arizona in saying the Biden administration is not prepared for the large increase of border crossings expected when Title 42 expulsions end May 23.
"Title 42 should not be lifted," Cuellar told Fox News Digital in an interview during which he revealed that he signed onto the legislation, which was introduced earlier.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cuellar said a large number of migrants will continue to cross the border and there are "mixed messages" coming from the administration on the risk of COVID.
"It’s mixed messages, with all due respect. How can we be adding billions of dollars for COVID vaccines, helping the restaurants and the relief that we have been voting on, mask mandates might even come up in parts of the country because cases are going up. We’re saying at the border, everything is fine. That is a mixed message."
Fox News' Marissa Schultz contributed to this report.