Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a moderate Democrat who represents a border district, criticized members of his party for focusing intently on the case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month.
In an interview Wednesday on NewsNation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert,” Cuellar acknowledged the “due process questions” in Abrego Garcia’s case but said there were more pressing issues that constituents want Democrats to focus on.
Cuellar also recognized that some Democrats have been talking more about border security, but he suggested it struck him as inconsistent for Democrats to be then pushing for Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States.
“We’ve been talking about strong border security for so many years, and now, you know, there are Democrats who are talking about the border,” Cuellar said.
“But, with all due respect,” he continued, “when you’re talking about bringing somebody — and I know there were due process questions — that was in Maryland, and now El Salvador. I don’t know if that’s the right issue that Democrats should be focusing on right now.”
He said Democrats should focus on “strong border security,” as well as “about the cost of living, what the tariffs are doing to the consumer, what’s happened to the stock market.”
“Those are the things that people want to talk about in my district,” Cuellar said, adding that when he travels within his district, “it’s rare that somebody brings up that case of that person from Maryland, because they want to talk about other things.”
The interview comes as a divide has developed in the party over handling the case, as some Democrats begin to wonder whether the explosive issue is a winning strategy as Republicans go on offense.
Four House progressives arrived in El Salvador on Monday to push for Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) made the same trip last week. The group has framed the effort as pushing back on a threat to basic constitutional rights.
“This is about due process; it’s about ensuring that we follow the laws of this country,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said Tuesday, after returning from El Salvador.
Cuellar addressed the trip in the interview Wednesday.
“I know some of my colleagues… they went down there, you know, they, trying to bring back the individual. Is that the topic we ought to be talking about?” Cuellar said.
