CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Cuellar
Interview
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COOPER: A waste of time, says the President.
Joining me now is Congressman Henry Cuellar, Democrat from Texas, a member of the group of lawmakers trying the hash out a deal. Congressman, thanks for being with us. So the President saying today --
REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D), TEXAS: Thank you so much.
COOPER: -- the bipartisan panel is no closer to a deal now than when it started. As a member of that panel, is he right?
CUELLAR: Look, without due respect to the President, we're just focusing on what we can do as appropriators Senate, House, Democrats, Republicans, and I feel optimistic that if there is no outside interference by the White House, we can work this out. I feel very confident that we can work it out.
COOPER: So, is there any discussion about a wall or whatever you call it, you know, increased fencing, supplemental fencing, additional fencing in some areas that are strategic points that may need it?
CUELLAR: Well, right now where we're focusing is trying to answer two questions. When you look at the question, how do we stop drugs from coming in, keep in mind that most drugs according to DEA, Homeland, will come through ports of entry.
So in our ports, what we need to do is make sure, make sure that we have the right number of K-9s, CBP officers, those are the men and women in blue, and have the latest X-ray technology, the sea portals and things that you can have an 18-wheelers go by and still provide the X-ray to see what's in there. So we got to be smart on how we secure the border.
And also, keep in mind that just think it was today, the largest amount of fentanyl that has been captured in the U.S. history was done at a port of entry. And if you listen to the latest drug case in New York, what are the bad guys saying? They use ports of entry. They will go ahead and use submarines or speed boats in the water. So we have to be smart on how we address drugs.
And keep in mind, one last point, if you want to stop people, keep in mind that in the year 2000, border patrol stopped 1.6 million individuals, apprehended. Last year it was about 303,000 individuals, a smaller amount. And the larger amount, 67 percent of the people are not supposed to be here are visa overstays. And by the way, most of those visa overstays are Canadians.
COOPER: Right. In the past, though, Democrats have supported some fencing, some fortified fencing. And there is, you know, there are many areas where there is -- there are steel slats. There are various kinds of fencing.
Would you be supportive of any kind of agreement that increases the length of fencing in some areas if border protection says that would help us in this particular region? Not talking about a wall from sea to shining sea, but just increased fencing of an extra 100 miles, 200 miles of fencing, is that something that you would support?
CUELLAR: Well, you know, again, first thing I want to do is make sure that we have the technology, the right number of personnel. Border patrol is losing more men and women than they're actually hiring in border patrol. We've got to make sure that we provide security underground because of tunnels, tunnels. Keep in mind that there has been what, 290 tunnels that they discovered going in the -- under the walls or fences, should I say, for a long time.
[20:40:00] And then of course sea, because of the coast guard has to play a role. And then air. We need air stats. We need drones. We need helicopters and airplanes.
COOPER: But even just to get a deal, as a compromise, would you consider additional fencing?
CUELLAR: Well, again, we got to look at what we have right now. Right now we have 654 miles of fencing. 300 of those miles are vehicle barriers. And if you're familiar with the vehicle barriers, they're basically to stop cars. They don't stop people. You can crawl under them or just jump over. So we have to look at what's out there.
Now, keep in mind that in the year 2000 -- 2008, Senator Cornyn and myself and a Democratic county judge, we came up with a compromise for what we called a levied wall, which is basically there is flooding down there by the river in the South Texas area. We got a dirt mound and we put a cement barrier on it and it became a flood control and at the same time border security. So we can get creative.
What we don't want is Washington to get a red crayon and tell us what we need to put any sort of barriers if we even get to that part.
COOPER: All right, Congressman Henry Cuellar, appreciate your time. Thank you.
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