Rep. Henry Cuellar calls for more resources for migrants: 'We need solutions and not theater'
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, was among politicians calling for more resources Sunday as thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arrive in the U.S. and some have been flown from the southern border to blue states.
He also pushed the administration to ensure that immigration agencies had what they needed to enforce immigration laws.
"We need solutions and not theater. By sending off folks off to New York and Chicago, it does bring attention, but I – we want to focus more on solutions on the border," Cuellar said on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
He said federal agencies like Border Patrol, ICE and Homeland Security need to have everything where they can enforce the law."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have had their states pay for migrants to be sent to New York and Massachusetts to seek refuge.
On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration is "surging resources" to El Paso, Texas' sixth-largest city, where homeless shelters are overwhelmed and migrants – with nowhere else to go – are sleeping in the streets. She did not provide details
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said that his city is seeing an upward of 1,500 migrants per day, and about 80% are coming from Venezuela.
As people are sent away from the southern border, New York City Mayor Eric Adams called more explicitly Sunday for coordination among federal, state and local governments.
"We should not be really treating other cities and municipalities in the manner that we're witnessing now," Adams said on CNN's "State of the Union,"
"There was no coordination at all with Governor Abbott and Governor DeSantis, just wanted to use this political ploy instead of understanding these are people, these are families, these are human beings," he added on ABC News' "This Week."
A group of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, arrived unexpectedly on Wednesday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, after DeSantis chartered two flights. It's the latest in a string of moves by GOP governors meant to surprise Democratic strongholds with large influxes of migrants.
As DeSantis vowed on Friday to continue the program, it has drawn a firestorm of criticism from opponents, including President Joe Biden, who accused DeSantis of "playing politics with human beings, using them as props."
DeSantis spent $615,000 in Florida taxpayer money to relocate almost 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. The payment was from the Florida Department of Transportation, which oversees a new, $12 million program to relocate "unauthorized aliens" from the state.
DeSantis: Follow the flight: Florida Gov. DeSantis flew 50 migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard
Leeser said the city of El Paso is working with migrants who have arrived to find out where they want to go and help get them there. He notes about half do not have sponsors in the U.S. who can help them – family or friends – or money.
Leeser suggested sponsorship can make transitions for migrants easier, given that there are many members of the Venezuelan community in the U.S.
Contributing: Tallahassee Democrat
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas' Henry Cuellar, NYC's Eric Adams call for more migrant resources
