Rep. Cuellar: Only 30% of border agents are doing security operations
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, on the lack of resources at the southern border as migrant crossings and fentanyl continue to rise
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, urged more cooperation between the federal government and state and local governments on "America's Newsroom" Friday to crack down on the growing amount of fentanyl coming across the southern border.
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REP. HENRY CUELLAR: How do we cooperate with the state and local governments and not just work separately? And I know they are doing that, but we've got to do a lot more because at the same time, we got to understand that most of the drugs, and you can ask this question, most of the drugs don't come in between the bridges. They actually come through the bridges. At one time, 90% of the fentanyl will come in through our bridges. So we got to make sure we have the right technology, the right the canines, the personnel, the bridges. But the problem is, as you know, Border Patrol right now in the southern part of the area from Laredo down to the valley, 60% of the Border Patrol agents are doing immigration processing, taking care of the migrants. 10% are doing the administrative. And only 30%, and I emphasize only 30% are actually doing the checkpoints or at the river at the border. So what we have a larger amount of drugs coming in, more people coming in. We have a lesser number of Border Patrol agents doing their work.
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