Cuellar disagrees with Texas migrant deportation law ruling: ‘There’s a lot of questions’

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is dissenting from the Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision to give effect to a Texas law that gives state law enforcement the power to arrest people who enter the U.S. illegally from the southern border. expressed his intention.

Cuellar, co-chair of the recently formed Border Security Task Force, disagrees that states can enforce immigration laws, and the ruling raises many questions about enforcement.

“I don’t agree with the Supreme Court’s view that states have the right to enforce their immigration laws. When I looked at the Arizona case 10 to 12 years ago, the Supreme Court said it was not going to talk about immigration reform or immigration enforcement. At the time, we said it doesn’t matter how unhappy the states are, it belongs to the federal government,” Cuellar said on Tuesday’s NewsNation appearance on “The Hill.”

“So one thing we know is that this is only temporary. We don’t know what will happen after the Fifth Circuit’s decision is handed down and goes back to the Supreme Court. No, but I certainly feel like there are a lot of questions.”

Tuesday’s order is not final, and the case could return to the nation’s highest court. The ordinance passed the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature last year and was signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R). In the lawsuit, Texas argued that it has a right to defend itself and that President Biden’s administration is unable or unwilling to protect the U.S.-Mexico border.

Cuellar, a moderate Democrat, questioned how the law would be implemented, especially how people who cross illegally would be deported.

“If you arrest someone in Texas, even if you do, do you just put them in the middle of a bridge?” [though] “Maybe they came from some other country, or do we have the authority to put them on a plane and send them back to their home country?” he said. “No such mechanism exists.”

The Hill is owned by NexStar, which also owns NewsNation.