--- title: Who Is Henry Cuellar, the House Democrat Trump Is Pardoning? description: Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were charged with bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy. canonical: https://time.com/7338453/who-is-henry-cuellar-trump-pardon-democratic-congressman/ author: Connor Greene article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-12-03T20:48:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:38:29.998Z article:section: Politics og:title: Who Is Henry Cuellar, the House Democrat Trump Is Pardoning? og:description: Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were charged with bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy. og:url: https://time.com/7338453/who-is-henry-cuellar-trump-pardon-democratic-congressman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd1bea0e0470d724/6998cc1b07a30d412077d942/GettyImages-1394033304.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: DHS Secretary Mayorkas Appears Before House Appropriations Subcommittee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Who Is Henry Cuellar, the House Democrat Trump Is Pardoning? twitter:description: Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were charged with bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd1bea0e0470d724/6998cc1b07a30d412077d942/GettyImages-1394033304.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Who Is Henry Cuellar, the Democratic Congressman Trump Is Pardoning? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Dec 3, 2025 8:48 PM UTC  Rep. Henry Cuellar questions Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as he testifies before a House Appropriations Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2022. Rep. Henry Cuellar questions Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as he testifies before a House Appropriations Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2022. Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Dec 3, 2025 8:48 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he would be giving a “full and unconditional” pardon to Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, in a federal bribery and conspiracy case. Rep. Cuellar, a conservative Democrat who has served in the House since 2005, and his wife were charged by federal authorities last year with bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged in the [indictment](https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/81ddeff5-b883-4958-a34f-9f8f5bb56bdb.pdf) that the couple accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities—an oil and gas company owned by the government of Azerbaijan, and a bank headquartered in Mexico City—in a scheme that took place from 2014 to late 2021. Henry and Imelda Cuellar “agreed to perform official acts in his capacity as a Member of Congress, to commit acts in violation of his official duties, and to act as an agent of the Government of Azerbaijan” in exchange for the bribes, the indictment alleged. The couple has denied wrongdoing. “For years, the Biden Administration weaponized the Justice System against their Political Opponents, and anyone who disagreed with them,” Trump [wrote](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115656343773820545) on Truth Social in his announcement of the Cuellars’ pardon. “One of the clearest examples of this was when Crooked Joe used the FBI and DOJ to ‘take out’ a member of his own Party after Highly Respected Congressman Henry Cuellar bravely spoke out against Open Borders, and the Biden Border ‘Catastrophe.’” Cuellar thanked Trump in a [post](https://x.com/repcuellar/status/1996254124354986003?s=46&t=E1SYPLglmxrTFPAkCBy7jA) on X. “This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on,” Cuellar wrote. Trump’s post also included images of a letter from Cuellar’s daughters, Christine and Catherine, sent last month. The letter stated that “our parents are good, decent people who have spent their lives giving more than they’ve taken,” and asked the President to show “mercy and compassion” for their parents. The Cuellars’ daughters also referenced their father’s support of a secure border and immigration enforcement, something Trump tipped his hat to in his announcement of the pardon. “He has never been afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to protecting the people of South Texas and securing the border from the policies of the previous administration,” they wrote. Cuellar—who represents a district in South Texas that borders the Rio Grande, which many migrants cross to enter the country—criticized Biden’s border policies on multiple occasions. "They have to show that they can stop some of the flow coming in, because if we look at the root problems, corruption, crime and all that, that's going to take years. But we have to show a way that we can slow down the number of people coming in from Central America,” he [said](https://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406324) in 2021 about the Biden Administration. "If we don't do this … I can tell you that the areas that I represent, the border communities, they're frustrated. I'm telling you, they are frustrated." The following year he knocked the Administration over its decision to end Title 42, a health emergency policy started during the Trump Administration under which the government could expel migrants without giving them a chance to file asylum claims. “You look at the polls. The Republican voters are not happy by what's happening at the border. The Democratic voters are not happy. And if you look at the independent voters, they're not happy about this decision. So who are we trying to please?” he [told](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuellar-biden-title-42-cartels-democrats-midterms-elections) Fox News Digital in an interview at the time. Cuellar also [supported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/08/border-democrat-wants-seize-back-debate-immigration/) Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to bus thousands of migrants to major U.S. cities during the Biden Administration, saying Abbott “played this very well politically.” “Usually when people talk about border security, it’s usually coming from people that are not from the border. But when migrants started going to New York and Chicago, that’s when other people started feeling what we’ve been feeling for a long time. It became real to them.” Cuellar authored a border security [bill](https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1358) in 2021 with Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to boost funding for the Department of Homeland Security, but the measure failed to win support. The Texas Democrat, the ranking member of the House’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, has also opposed Trump’s proposed border wall, however. Cuellar opposed the construction of the wall while proposing “more effective alternatives, such as modernizing land ports of entry and our security infrastructure, bolstering U.S. Border Patrol vehicles and checkpoints, and increasing border patrol agent salaries to reduce attrition,” his platform on [border and homeland security](https://cuellar.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=3833) states. “Border walls are a 14th-century solution to 21st-century problems,” Cuellar [posted](https://x.com/RepCuellar/status/1985742814609539370) last month. Cuellar told reporters that he “didn’t know that this was coming” and said “no” when asked if any deal had been cut with the White House. The [Cook Political Report](https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings) currently rates the race for Cuellar’s seat as one of the most competitive in 2026\. The congressman filed to run for reelection as a Democrat on Wednesday. Asked if he would change parties following the pardon, he said no. “Like I said, nothing has changed,” he told reporters. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7338453/who-is-henry-cuellar-trump-pardon-democratic-congressman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7338453/who-is-henry-cuellar-trump-pardon-democratic-congressman/"},"headline":"Who Is Henry Cuellar, the Democratic Congressman Trump Is Pardoning?","datePublished":"2025-12-03T20:48:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:38:29.998Z","description":"Democratic Rep. 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