Democratic Texas Rep. Cuellar Says He’s ‘Been Warning’ Biden Administration About Border Rhetoric: They Have a ‘Bad Message’

Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar lamented President Joe Biden’s stance on border security in a Wednesday interview, telling MSNBC’s Chuck Todd it was a “bad message.”

“What specifically would you like to see [the administration] do differently than they’re doing right now?” Todd asked Cuellar in the Wednesday interview.

“First of all, within one week of the inauguration, I was calling the White House already,” Cuellar replied. “And saying, ‘Hey, see what’s happening on the ground.’ This was back in January. I was telling the White House folks, ‘You’ve got to understand what I’m seeing here. I’m seeing the numbers.’ Because I live at the border. I don’t just visit the border, I live there. I go there right after my votes in D.C. And so I’ve been warning the administration.

“We’ve got to understand … the administration’s message has to be better,” he added. “You can’t say, ‘Don’t come now, come later.’ That’s a bad message. It’s got to be clear and concise. Don’t come in here illegally. That should be the message. Message number two is what I call the networks of friend and family. ‘Hey, Pedro, I was able to come over. You ought to come over.’ They see images like what you’re playing right now. People coming across. So of course they’re going to come in.”

Cuellar, who was first elected to the House in 2004, has been vocal in criticizing Biden over border security. “You know, the president sent a delegation and a bunch of folks from the White House, [but] they didn’t talk to anybody, not even members of Congress down here,” he told Fox News in an interview last week.

Watch above via MSNBC.