Rep. Henry Cuellar said Saturday he disagreed with Vice President Kamala Harris’s assessment that the southern border is secure, citing his border district’s experience with the influx of migrants into the United States.
The Texas Democrat cited the thousands of people that come across the border per day, as well as more than four million people reported as crossing the border in the past two years.
“The border is not secure, with all due respect to the VP,” Mr. Cuellar told CNN. “We get thousands of people along the border, at least 6 to 8 thousand people a day.”
The congressman added: “You’re talking about almost 4 plus, maybe 4.4. million individuals in two years. Iff you call that secure, I don’t know what secure is.”
Mr. Cuellar, a moderate, narrowly fended off a progressive primary challenger in a June runoff election.
Ms. Harris, who is in charge of overseeing the southern border, asserted that the border was secure in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press last week.
The vice president also discussed the broken immigration system, which she said was exacerbated by the Trump administration.
“We have a secure border and that is a priority for any nation, including our administration,” Ms. Harris said.
Republicans have attacked the Biden administration over what they say are open border policies that have incentivized illegal immigrants entering the country.
More recently, GOP governors have sent migrants into so-called sanctuary cities, including busloads of migrants disembarking outside Ms. Harris’ official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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