Cuellar says he will 'sit down and work together' with Homan

Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar (D) said on Monday that he would "sit down and work together" with President-elect Trump's pick for "border czar" Tom Homan.

“We've been on some shows together, we've done certain things together,” Cuellar told NewsNation’s Blake Burman on “The Hill” of Homan. “We agreed on a lotta things, but we just gotta make sure that we don't go extreme left or extreme right.”

“And — and I think people like Tom Homan … and I'll say this, we can sit down and work together, because I've been doing this for many years,” he added.

Trump on Sunday unveiled Homan, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, as his “border czar” in his next administration. In an announcement via Truth Social, the president-elect said Homan’s responsibilities would include “the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security.”

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump posted. “Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”

Trump, for a while, has promised to carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.

In his interview on NewsNation, Cuellar said “there are some things I might not agree” with Homan on, including “dividing families, things like that.” However, Cuellar also said he “is very passionate about the work.”

Late last month, in response to journalist Cecilia Vega asking him on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about the possibility of going forward with “mass deportation without separating families,” Homan said “there is” and that “Families can be deported together.”

Homan also said on Monday in an interview on Fox Business that “U.S. citizens” and “legal immigrants are perfectly safe, for God’s sakes.”

The Hill has reached out to Border911, an organization Homan is president and CEO of, and a spokesperson for Trump for comment.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.