Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for doing a "check in the box" trip to the U.S.-Mexico border because she is going to El Paso, Texas instead of the harder-hit areas amid the ongoing border crisis.
Cuellar, who lives in the border town of Laredo, gave Harris credit for finally visiting the southern border but said it falls short because she will not get the full picture if she does not visit towns like Roma or McAllen.
"Yesterday I got a call from one of my Border Patrol friends to say 'Why is she going over there? We have 140% higher crossings over here. This is where the activity is at.' And I couldn’t answer him when he asked me that question...Even if she goes to El Paso, which is a first step, she has to spend time with landowners, with stakeholders, with cities and counties officials and I hope she sits down with our brave men and women in green and in blue," Cuellar said.
Cuellar noted Harris never responded to his invitation to see the border crisis in his district and his office found out about Harris' upcoming trip through the news.
"I’m sure her planners told her if you gotta go down to the border, go to something that is safer to go to, that is politically safer. 'If you go down to the lower Rio Grande where the high activity and you're there with kids and families, prosecutorial discretion where people are being released. High numbers of people crossing the border, you know, politically it’s harder to do that.' I know that. It’s part of my district. But you got to do what you have to do. You just can’t just go to one place. But she does do the check the box and go down to the border by going to El Paso."
Harris' trip to the border was announced after former President Donald Trump said he plans to visit the border with Gov. Greg Abbott (R) next week.
"Harris and Biden were given the strongest Border in American history. And now, it is by far the worst in American history. If Governor Abbott and I weren’t going there next week, she would have never gone!" Trump said in response to Harris' trip.