Cuellar: Media Focus on Migrant Activists and Ignore Border Communities, System Is ‘Overwhelmed’ Because ‘There Is No Repercussion’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) stated that reporting and discussion around immigration always center around “what the migrant activists want to talk about,” while “Our border communities have not been listened to,” and the work of law enforcement is ignored. Cuellar also argued the system “is being overwhelmed, simply because there [are] no repercussions. There is no repercussion.”

Cuellar said, “We have to keep in mind that, when people do reporting or people talk about this, they always talk about what the migrant activists want to talk about, which is fine. But you also have to look at what’s happening down here at the border. Our border communities have not been listened to, when we have — and we take migrants and we want to treat everybody with respect and dignity, that pressure and that burden is put on the local government. And also, quite honestly, what about the men and women in green and blue? Somebody needs to pay attention to the work that they’re doing. So, you have to make sure that we also listen to the border communities. And the numbers, just as an example, last week, there [were] 12,200 people, in one week that came through the lower Rio Grande Valley. … So, those are the things that people need to look at. I believe in legal migration. I believe in doing it the right way. But I think our system, the way we’re handling this, is being overwhelmed, simply because there [are] no repercussions. There is no repercussion.”

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