Newsmax - Rep. Cuellar: Americans Tired of 'Partisanship' on Immigration

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By Wanda Carruthers

It's time for Congress to act on finding a legislative solution to problems with the nation's immigration system, Rep. Henry Cuellar told "Fox & Friends."

"I certainly believe that we should have a legislative, or bi-legislative, solution to this," the Texas Democrat said Friday. "I want to work bipartisan. I hope we can do it."

President Barack Obama is expected to announce an executive action as early as next week that would approve broad changes to the nation's immigration system, allowing up to five million illegals to stay and work in the U.S.

Cuellar said he believed in a bipartisan compromise to address immigration issues, and said both Republicans and Democrats were to blame for not finding solutions sooner.

"There are Democrats and Republicans, like myself, that have sat down, have talked about working together on an immigration reform. We now have gone to a point where people have gone to the corners. That's wrong.

"It's . . . on the fault of both sides. So, we need to work together," he said.

Cuellar said he wanted to secure the border, but stressed the "crime rate at the border is actually safer than the national crime rate."

"Here in Washington, (D.C.), the murder rate for 100,000 is about 15, almost 16 murders per 100,000. In my hometown, Laredo, it's less than three murders per 100,000," he said.

Americans are "sick and tired of this partisanship," Cuellar said, adding that lawmakers "were not sent up here to Washington to do the easy things."

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