Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar pleaded with President Joe Biden on Wednesday to “just show up” at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The representative, a Democrat with a reputation as a border hawk, told “CNN This Morning” that the president needs to witness the border crisis firsthand and take efforts to stop the influx of migrants flooding into the country.
“I don’t know why they keep avoiding the border and saying there’s other things more important than this than the border,” Cuellar said. “If there’s a crisis, show up. Just show up. I think part of the battle is if he just shows up and says I’m hoping to work on this and on this. Just showing up at the border would send a strong signal to the communities that he’s there, he cares about the border communities. Just show up, it doesn’t take much to just show up at the border.”
Cuellar, who has a reputation as a Democratic border hawk, has voted to defund sanctuary cities and to increase maximum sentences for illegals who commit crimes after being deported and reentering the country.
Biden told reporters on Dec. 6 that he has not visited the border “because there are more important things going on.” He made the remark after migrant numbers exceeded 2.3 million in the 2022 fiscal year. Migrants have continued to cross the border in record numbers since the start of the 2023 fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2022. (RELATED: ‘They Say The Border’s Closed. It’s Not Closed’: Dem Rep Calls Out Biden Over Border Crisis)
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the president has not been in the border’s vicinity since 2008, when he drove by the location while serving as vice president. At a Nov. 30 press briefing, current press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, refused to say when Biden last visited the border.
“He’s been there. He’s been to the border,” Jean-Pierre told Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy.
A handful of Border Patrol agents lashed out at Biden for saying there are more important things going on, with some directly pointing fingers at him for the ongoing crisis.
“MORE IMPORTANT THINGS? This is HIS disaster, he created this catastrophe. The border crisis is a total breach of National Security. Give me a fucking break … I can’t wait for this clown to be out of office,” one agent told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a text message. “He’s straight up in denial.”