Border Official Blames Democratic Leadership for Illegal Immigration Incidents
From left, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., talk to reporters about the Laken Riley Act, a bill to detain unauthorized immigrants who have been accused of certain crimes, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was killed last year by a Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
By Sam Barron | Thursday, 25 December 2025 09:50 PM EST
Art Del Cueto, a veteran border official, said on Thursday that anyone in the country illegally is breaking the law.
Del Cueto praised President Donald Trump and his administration for apprehending so many illegal aliens.
“You cannot round them up if you have a president that doesn’t care about the American borders and he doesn’t care about criminals running around the streets,” he said on “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”
“If you’re lazy, you can’t do it. But clearly with President Trump, they’ve been able to do it,” Del Cueto added.
He dismissed criticisms that some of the people arrested have no criminal record.
“There were millions upon millions of individuals that entered illegally under the Biden administration,” Del Cueto said.
“The fact that you’re here illegally, that’s a crime unto itself,” he added.
“That’s why they’re going after a lot of these individuals,” Del Cueto continued.
On Wednesday, federal immigration agents were involved in a shooting that left one person wounded and another with injuries in Maryland, authorities said.
When the agents approached a van carrying the two men, who entered the U.S. illegally, the driver drove the van into agents’ vehicles, and then drove the van directly at ICE officers in an attempt to run them over, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Del Cueto said Democrats continue to defend illegal aliens despite incidents like this.
“That’s part of the problem,” Del Cueto said.
“We can sit here and say hopefully, that if we ever get another Democrat in office, he’s going to learn the failures of the Biden administration,” Del Cueto added.
“These incidents continue to happen because we have a lot of politicians in leadership positions that continue to not want to push consequences against the individuals that break our laws and that are criminals in the U.S.,” Del Cueto continued.
“That’s why this happens. These guys feel empowered,” he said.
“They go to these areas, and they do this because they think they can get away with it.”
“You have leadership in cities and states and other parts of government that are telling them, resist, fight,” Del Cueto concluded.
