Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) suggested Tuesday that he can find “common ground” with Tom Homan, President-elect Trump’s pick for “border czar,” when it comes to enforcing security on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Cuellar, who represents a district along the border, said that while there are a “lot of things we can work on,” he first wants to see details.
“We can deport people quickly under Title A, we can do ‘stay in Mexico,’ we can do so many things on policies that can work right away,” he told host Blake Burman in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
“In fact, today, I was communicating with Tom, and we talked about getting together sometime when I hit back to D.C. in the next week or so and I think we can find a lot of common ground,” the Texas Democrat added.
His comments came just hours after Homan visited the border alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to discuss the incoming Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations — which the president-elect threatened repeatedly while on the campaign trail. The Lone Star State has already offered up a 1,400-acre ranch to help with the plan.
The former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official has made news in recent weeks for making threats to officials and states who refuse to cooperate with Trump’s immigration agenda. In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, Homan signaled that federal funds could even be slashed for states that don’t comply. Earlier this week, he also suggested jail time may be on the table.
Cuellar added Tuesday that while he and Homan do not agree on everything, there are common goals that both sides are looking to meet once Trump returns to the White House.
“We might not agree on everything, but certainly we can agree to deport quickly the criminals, the national security folks, the 1.3 million final deportation people that have a final deportation order and are still here,” he said.
“Some of the recent crossers are some of the folks we need to look at. So, there’s a lot of things that I think we can do, and certainly Mexico has done a lot, but they can do much, much, much more stopping fentanyl and stopping people from coming in,” the lawmaker added.
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