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The Conversation with Dasha Burns

Moderate Dem says Title 42 was Biden’s border blunder

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Government, Politics

4.01.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, after years of criticism from immigration rights activists and many progressive Democrats, President Joe Biden has ended the use of Title 42. That’s the public health law that Donald Trump first used during the pandemic to expel millions of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden’s decision has drawn predictable outrage from Republicans. But perhaps more worrisome to the president is the growing list of critics from within the Democratic Party who are concerned that Biden’s border policies could trigger a humanitarian crisis and perhaps an electoral backlash.  Rep. Henry Cuellar is one of those Democrats. And he’s this week’s guest on Playbook Deep Dive. Cuellar knows the issue of immigration better than most of his fellow Democrats. He was born to immigrant farm workers in Laredo, Texas, went to college and law school, and eventually jumped into Texas politics, and then the U.S. Congress, where he’s served since 2005 representing Texas’s 28th Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio to Laredo and includes 200 miles of the southern border. The left does not like him. He received a lot of attention in the last two election cycles when he was targeted by national progressives and barely survived two primary challenges. One reason for those challenges: immigration, where Cuellar is well-known for being to the right of many of his Democratic colleagues. On the other hand, he voted against the border security bill that House Republicans put on the floor this week. Cuellar is a lonely centrist on an issue that has become much more polarized over the last decade.  And, as he tells Playbook co-author and Deep Dive host Ryan Lizza, he thinks Joe Biden should join him in the middle and stop taking advice from the left, as the president prepares for the coming aftershocks of his Title 42 decision. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Henry Cuellar is the representative for Texas's 28th district. Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This week, after years of criticism from immigration rights activists and many progressive

0:05.8

Democrats, President Joe Biden has ended the use of Title 42.

0:11.2

That's the public health law that Donald Trump first used during the pandemic to expel

0:16.1

millions of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

0:21.0

Biden's decision has drawn predictable outrage from Republicans.

0:25.6

But perhaps more worrisome to the president is the growing list of critics from within

0:29.3

the Democratic Party, who are concerned that Biden's border policies could trigger

0:34.2

a humanitarian crisis.

0:36.7

And perhaps an electoral backlash.

0:40.0

Representative Henry Quayar is one of those Democrats.

0:43.2

If we always joke around, we at the border we always smile.

0:47.0

Every time there's a new president, it's one extreme the other way and another extreme.

0:54.2

I'm Ryan Liza.

0:55.4

This is Playbook Deep Dive.

1:01.1

Quayar knows the issue of immigration better than most of his fellow Democrats.

1:05.7

He was born to immigrant farm workers in Laredo, Texas, went to college in law school and

1:10.4

eventually jumped into Texas politics and then the U.S. Congress, where he served since

1:15.2

2005 representing Texas' 28th district, which stretches from San Antonio to Laredo and includes

1:22.0

200 miles of the southern border.

1:25.3

The first thing you notice when visiting Quayar's office are the letters Ph.D. after his

1:29.7

name on the plaque next to his door.

1:32.7

His parents drilled into him the importance of education and he's never stopped going

...

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