Cuellar on Biden Border Policy: Law Enforcement Doesn’t Want ‘Pat on the Back,’ They Want Resources and Ability to Deport

On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) discussed Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to the border and the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, and stated that law enforcement on the ground “don’t want to have a pat on the back, they want to have the resources, the personnel, the boots on the ground, and they want to be given the power to be able to deport people if the law calls for that.”

Cuellar stated that we have to be compassionate, but also enforce the law.

Host Erica Hill then asked, “And do you feel like that is the focus of the vice president and of this administration, that twofold response?”

Cuellar responded, “Well, let me be very diplomatic, in talking to our men and women on the ground, and, again, I don’t just go visit the border for a few hours, but I live there. Even today, during the visit, I was getting some calls in Texas from my Border Patrol friends and…the men and women in blue, with all due respect, again, they don’t want to have a pat on the back, they want to have the resources, the personnel, the boots on the ground, and they want to be given the power to be able to deport people if the law calls for that. So, we want to be compassionate. We want to treat people with respect and dignity, but I emphasize, we have to enforce the law.”

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