Today, U.S. Congressmen Henry Cuellar, Ph.D. (TX-28) and Tom Suozzi (NY-3) launched the Democrats for Border Security Task Force, a group of 26 House Democrats dedicated to countering the surge of illicit narcotics threatening communities across the country and addressing the influx of irregular migration at the southern border. Cuellar and Suozzi will serve as Co-Chairs of the newly formed Task Force.

“Cities across the country are now feeling the consequences of the humanitarian crisis at the border – something border communities have been dealing with for years,” said Cuellar, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. “This crisis is unsustainable, and Democrats need a forum to approach border security policy as the GOP continues to play partisan politics with the issue. The crisis at our border demands solutions today, and it is unfortunate that a bipartisan Senate bill aimed at addressing the situation was killed before we even had a chance to debate its contents. I’m proud to lead my fellow Democrats on this Task Force so we can find sensible solutions that will secure the border while respecting the rights of migrants to claim asylum.”

"America’s southern border and immigration system aren’t working, and it is time to fix it. This task force will advocate for commonsense, bipartisan compromise to achieve much-needed and long-overdue comprehensive immigration reform. Our approach to the immigration and border crisis is unequivocal; we will work with anybody from any wing of any party if they genuinely care about solving this problem," said Suozzi. “Too many in politics today are focused on pointing out the problem and keep busy figuring out what tricks they have ‘up their sleeves’ to weaponize the border crisis, this task force will ‘roll up our sleeves’ to try to fix it.”

The goal of the Task Force will be to provide a forum for House Democrats to contribute to ongoing discussions regarding border security and collaborate with colleagues. The Task Force will hold meetings with Administration officials, NGOs, and local officials from border communities to better inform members of the realities of the border crisis while giving House Democrats a platform to discuss sensible border security measures.

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