A Texas Democrat accused the Obama administration of remaining “one step behind” in dealing with the wave of migrants flooding the U.S. border with Mexico.
“We should have been ready for this surge, the administration should have been ready,” Rep. Henry Cuellar said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” The Hill reported.
Authorities apprehended roughly 48,000 migrants along the Texas border in May alone, 9,700 of them children unaccompanied by an adult, The Hill reported.
“With all respect to the administration, they’re one step behind. They should have seen this coming a long time ago … because we saw those numbers increasing,” Mr. Cuellar said.
The president has no plans to visit the border while he visits Texas on Wednesday for a fundraiser – a decision the White House has defended.
“It would be nice of him to come down to the border, but again with all due respect I think he’s still one step behind,” Mr. Cuellar said. “They knew this was happening a year ago, … and they’re not reacting fast enough at this time.”
SEE ALSO: Texas Gov. Rick Perry: Obama admin. knew about border problem for years
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has publicly invited the president to the border and said Sunday that he’s warned the administration for years about the looming crisis and begged for additional resources to deal with it.
“Messages have been sent now for multiple years,” the Republican told ABC’s “This Week.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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