Moderate Dem says Title 42 was Bidens border blunder

Published: May 12, 2023, 9 a.m.

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\u2019s 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.\nBiden\u2019s 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\u2019s border policies could trigger a humanitarian crisis and perhaps an electoral backlash.\xa0\nRep. Henry Cuellar is one of those Democrats. And he\u2019s this week\u2019s guest on Playbook Deep Dive.\nCuellar 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\u2019s served since 2005 representing Texas\u2019s 28th Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio to Laredo and includes 200 miles of the southern border.\nThe 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.\nOne 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.\xa0\nAnd, 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.\nRyan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Henry Cuellar is the representative for Texas's 28th district.\xa0Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.\xa0Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices