Henry Cuellar

I am not talking about the unaccompanied kids or the family units. Those are not danger to our communities.

Is there any way you can help the Border Patrol with a strategy on securing the border?

I agree. I mean, it doesn't have to be that type of hard power. I think what you are talking about will develop a lot of good will among those countries.

I don't want to see the 1980s again where the U.S. wakes up and says, 'Oh my God, look what has happened in Nicaragua.'

I am also concerned what is happening in our own backyard. I am talking about not only Central America but South America.

The Biden administration, in his words, is doing all it can, that these numbers are overwhelming and that people need to pay attention.

Farm work is hard work. Both of my parents, Odilia and Martin, were farmworkers. It is very hard work. It is one of those type of jobs that is very necessary to make sure that we bring food to the table. I represent several areas that are…

We are weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis on the Southern Border. Inaction is simply not an option.

Well, look without due respect of the message has to be clear in Central America. There's three messages down there. One is from the President saying don't come.

The only thing what makes this difficult is just the fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic. But if you look at the reality, the real numbers, this doesn't compare to what happened in May of 2019, which is of course under President…

They seem to be on a commission without due respect, to start releasing and show that they're compassionate. I want to be compassionate. But I also think people should be compassionate to our communities on the border.

The way we're going I think it's going to become a crisis.

I don't think we can dip ourselves out of that problem.

I would like to see what you all are doing on that particular aspect.

Thank you for being here, to the witnesses, and I would like to ask you some questions dealing with the border area.

I represent a border area. Four of those counties--Hidalgo, Starr, Zapata, Webb--even La Salle, are what we call StrikeForce counties, home to border colonias.

I think it was a problem with Ercot, but still now we have those electric cooperatives who are suffering.

Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for your leadership, and also to the ranking member.

I know that Jim Clyburn and other folks had pushed the, what we call the 10-20-30 efforts to make sure that we address the high poverty areas.

Colonias are on the U.S.-Mexico border. There are hundreds of them.

I just want to see if you can assign somebody I can work with and the committee can work with, because I do intend to add fundings with the help of the Appropriations Committee members to address third-world conditions called colonias.

But what I want to talk about is, how do we help kids from third-world conditions, literally millions of them--and I am not talking about Salvador or Guatemala, but I am talking about kids in the border, U.S. border, called colonias.

I would rather have inspectors there. I would rather not have any problems with any visas.

So what I am asking on the virtual, you know, there is telemedicine where doctors actually can look at x-rays and look at a lot of things to treat a patient.

I want to follow up on whether we have enough people at the border to do the testing by FDA.