Tom Suozzi appointed co-chair of border security task force

Congressman Tom Suozzi and Henry Cuellar launched the Democrats for Border Security Task Force today. The group of 26 House Democrats is dedicated to addressing the country’s immigration and border crisis and countering the surge of illicit narcotics threatening communities across the country. Suozzi and Cuellar will serve as co-chairs of the newly formed task force.

“America’s southern border and immigration system aren’t working, and it is time to fix it. This task force will advocate for commonsense, bipartisan compromise to achieve much-needed and long-overdue comprehensive immigration reform,” Suozzi said. “Our approach to the immigration and border crisis is unequivocal; we will work with anybody from any wing of any party if they genuinely care about solving this problem. Too many in politics today are focused on pointing out the problem and keep busy figuring out what tricks they have ‘up their sleeves’ to weaponize the border crisis. This task force will ‘roll up our sleeves’ to try to fix it.”

“Cities across the country are now feeling the consequences of the humanitarian crisis at the border, something border communities have been dealing with for years,” Cuellar, a ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. said. “This crisis is unsustainable, and Democrats need a forum to approach border security policy as the GOP continues to play partisan politics with the issue.”

The goal of the task force will be to provide a platform for House Democrats to contribute to ongoing discussions regarding border security and collaborate with colleagues. The task force will hold meetings with administration officials, NGOs, and local officials from border communities to better inform members of the realities of the border crisis while giving House Democrats a platform to discuss sensible border security measures.