CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Immigration Crisis

Interview

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KEILAR: That was Representative Henry Cuellar. He's joining us right now. Congressman from Texas.

Good morning to you. Thank you for being with us.

CUELLAR: Good morning.

KEILAR: Really appreciate you being here.

I want to play devil's advocate here, though, because you say this is a -- this could be a Katrina moment, and I wonder, is it appropriate, do you think, to compare this to Katrina, where people died and the city was -- was demolished or much of the city was demolished? CUELLAR: Yes, I mean, there are two different crises without a doubt,

but I was referring to how a leader addresses an issue. In this case where there's a crisis that we're seeing down there, a leader is going to be defined on how he or she handles that crisis.

You can send surrogates down there to the border. You could be 500 miles, like he's going to be in Dallas today, but the thing is, I think he ought to go out there and see the situation, one, talk to the Border Patrol who have been doing a great job down there but more importantly as parents, we ought to see those young kids, young girls, about one-third are raped on the way up here, some of them don't even make it over here to the U.S. border. He ought to see exactly what that crisis is on the border.

KEILAR: Yes. And no doubt certainly this is a crisis for sure. I want to ask you a bit about this trip that the president is on, and sort of your perception of it. There was some kind of bizarre pictures that came out of his first stop on the three-day swing when he was in Denver. This was last night during his visit there. After a fundraiser, the president went out. He had some beers. He played pool.

He's talking some about the economy, focusing on the economy, and then this happened at the bar there. Listen to this.

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KEILAR: I mean, it was kind of a downright bizarre trip, I would say. That was someone actually I think, and albeit in Colorado, where marijuana is legal at this point, recreationally. He was offered some, it appears. Today he's turning his attention to this border crisis, obviously, meeting with faith leaders and with the governor.

But as you watch him the day before coming to Texas and he's not going to the border, what's your read on that?

CUELLAR: Well, listen, you know, he is going to meet with the governor and some folks in Dallas, but that's still 500 miles away from the border.

What about meeting with the border community leaders that are facing this situation day after day? What about the non-profits and the church leaders that we have on the border that have been working out of their generosity helping the young folks over there? So this is something that he can get on Air Force One, with all due respect. He can be down there, stop the traffic, go down there to the border, spend a little bit of time.

And I think as parents, all of us should be -- you know, one, see the Border Patrol but as parents, we ought to see those young kids who are coming in without parents and put a face to the crisis that we're seeing there.

Look, if he's afraid that if he goes down to the border, and he's going to own this situation, well let me tell you, he can't hide from this because he can do this long distance the way he's doing this, send surrogates down to the border. He's still going to own the situation, and like I said, a leader is going to be defined by how he or she handles a situation, a crisis. And this is certainly a humanitarian crisis that we're facing down at the border.

KEILAR: And I'm curious, as you have concerns about how the president's handling this situation, will you and other Democrats register your disapproval with that by voting against the president's $3.7 billion request for funds to deal with the influx of children coming across the border?

CUELLAR: Well, first of all, we as appropriators, we are going to look at that. We just can't -- just say we're going to give you all the money that we want. But at the same time, certainly I'm going to be supporting the president and addressing the funding issues that we have, the humanitarian issues for taking care of those kids, we have to do that. I don't know what amount but we got to look at that.

But let me tell you this. Are we paying vendors $500 a day to take care of these young kids, per child? You know, I mean, there's a lot of places --

KEILAR: Yes, but, Congressman.

CUELLAR: -- we ought to look at.

KEILAR: Congressman, I want to -- I want to pin you down a little bit more on this. This is his request, the Emergency Supplemental Funds, in order to deal with this crisis right now. You're not saying -- I mean, you know sort of what's in this, what his request includes, countering misinformation by smugglers, cracking down on smugglers, providing for the care and obviously you're concerned about whether -- you know, the cost of that is just really inflated. But is this something -- you're not really committing to an answer here. Is this something that you will support?

CUELLAR: Yes. Let me give you the answer. I've been straightforward on this. I as appropriator I want to review what he's going to give us. We just can't just trust the president saying we're going to give you exactly every penny you want to. But do I want to support him? Yes. Of course I want to support the president of the United States but we have a right as appropriators, as Congress, to review the proposal that he's given us, because keep in mind this didn't happen last night.

This is something that's been happening over -- over a year, and therefore, we want to review exactly what he's talking about. But again, do we support putting more money for ICE, for detention spaces, more judges down there, immigration judges, taking care of the kids? Yes, we just got to look at the amount, but do I want to support the president? The answer is yes. KEILAR: So meaning his proposal may not be the one that you would want to move out of Congress. It may be changed. Do you feel like it's a negotiation with the White House?

CUELLAR: Of course. You know, when a president proposes, Congress has the right to review under the Constitution how much money we're going to appropriate. We're the only ones that can appropriate but we're certainly going to look at what the president has been -- has proposed to us and I certainly want to support the president. And I'm glad that he gave us a proposal.

Some of the things that he's proposing are the things that some of us have been asking for months and months and months. He finally got to proposing and again we are going to look at that. But do I want to support the president, yes, I do.

KEILAR: Hey, Congressman, thank you so much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.

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