Democrat urges Biden to visit border as chaos engulfs El Paso with the end of Title 42 looming

House Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas accused President Joe Biden of ‘avoiding the border’ on Wednesday as the Department of Homeland Security braces for an overwhelming surge of new migrants just days before the end of a controversial expulsion policy.

A federal judge ordered the Biden administration to bring Title 42 to an end by midnight on December 21.

The conservative Democrat took a jab at the president for previously saying there were ‘more important things’ than the southwestern border crisis shortly before visiting Arizona.

‘I don’t know why they keep avoiding the border and saying there’s other things more important than visiting the border,’ Cuellar told CNN’s morning show. ‘If there’s a crisis – show up.’

Over the weekend, thousands of people crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into El Paso, Texas, overwhelming local resources. 

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to the crowded Lone Star State city on Tuesday where he met with Border Patrol agents and Chief Raul Ortiz. 

They reportedly discussed preparations for the end of Title 42, a Donald Trump-era coronavirus pandemic policy that allows border agents to turn asylum-seekers away on contact in the name of slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Asked if Biden should visit the border himself as president – something he’s never done – Cuellar said he ‘absolutely’ should.

‘Just showing up at the border would send a strong signal to the communities that he’s there, he cares about the border communities,’ the congressman said. ‘Just show up. It doesn’t take much to just show up at the border.’

On Tuesday, a group of bipartisan lawmakers led by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin urged the president to act to keep it in place, warning of a ‘complete loss of operational control’ otherwise.

Cuellar was among the four signatories. 

‘There’s just not enough shelters and border processing centers to handle the large numbers of people,’ the congressman said on Wednesday.

‘What Border Patrol is doing, it’s almost like whack-a-mole…This is not the way to secure the border.’

He called for the ‘compassionate’ treatment of migrants at the border while also enhancing security.

It comes amid a surge of migrants from Central and South America as the end of the Title 42 expulsion policy looms (Hundreds of migrants, mostly from Nicaragua, are released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection near a bus station in downtown El Paso, Texas. (December 13, 2022)

A huge influx of migrants has crossed the US-Mexico border from Ciudad Juarez into El Paso, Texas. After crossing the Rio Grande River that separates the two countries, the migrants face lengthy delays to be processed by Border Patrol in near-freezing temperatures on December 13, 2022.

A group of family migrants are dropped off at a local migrant shelter run by the Annunciation House. Title 42 is ending next week on December 21 upon a judge’s order.

‘If Title 42 goes away, this is going to open up a large number of people coming to border communities,’ Cuellar warned.

He suggested the Biden administration may not even grasp the full urgency he sees in the situation.

‘I don’t think they do, or if they do, they just have a very different perspective,’ Cuellar said.

‘It’s okay to listen to immigration activists. It’s okay to do that. That’s one perspective. But who is listening to the men and women in green and blue, and more importantly, who is listening to our border communities?’

This month alone, the number of people crossing the border in a single day exceeded 9,000 three times, according to Axios.

Border officials are reportedly now bracing for scenarios of up to 14,000 undocumented people a day trying to cross the border.