Cuellar: Biden Waited to Implement Policies that Would Have Made Us ‘Ready’ for Title 42 to End

On Wednesday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Sound On” podcast, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) said that while the Biden administration is finally implementing some sound policies on immigration, “I wish they would have done this way before so we would have been ready” for the end of Title 42, but they didn’t, so “we’re going to see a lot of people are trying to cross over at the beginning.”

Host Joe Mathieu asked, [relevant exchange begins around 7:00] “Well, so, what are Americans going to see on their TV screens, on their phones, what stories are they going to hear me tell come May 11 when Title 42 comes down? What are these images going to look like?”

Cuellar answered, “I think they’re going to see people coming to the border in large amounts. And again, the administration, finally, after two years, is finally putting some policies in place that I think will have an impact. But I wish they would have implemented that earlier. You will see an impact after May 11, I don’t know by when, if they implement them correctly.”

Cuellar then praised policy moves by the Biden administration to slow down migrants at the Darien Gap, placing processing centers in other nations, putting asylum officers in Border Patrol facilities to make quicker decisions on asylum claims, and a “new rule, and we’re waiting for this new rule that says…somebody comes in between a port of entry, we’re going to return you” and that if people pass through countries that they could have claimed asylum in before reaching the border, that is a presumption that they aren’t eligible for asylum.

He concluded, “So, if the administration implements all those things correctly, we’re going to see some progress after May 11. But I think May 11, I wish they would have done this way before so we would have been ready. But, they’re doing this at the 12th hour and I think we’re going to see a lot of people are trying to cross over at the beginning. But we’ve got to have those consequences.”

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