smuggling from Mexico. In 2013, in a statement with House colleagues Beto O'Rourke and Filemon Vela Jr., Cuellar renewed his opposition to a border fence along the Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico. He denounced inclusion in the Senate immigration bill of an amendment sponsored by Senators Bob Corker and John Hoeven that called for 700 additional miles of border fencing, calling the fence an antiquated solution to a modern problem. The fence, he said, ignores the economic ties between the two nations, which reached $500 billion in 2012. In 2014, Cuellar was the only House Democrat to vote for a bill that would have made deporting unaccompanied minors to Central America easier. He also released unauthorized photographs of unsanitary conditions in Border Patrol detention centers. Despite these actions, Cuellar said he firmly supports "comprehensive immigration reform". In May 2015, Cuellar called for 55 more federal judges to handle the overload of 450,000 immigration cases. There were 260 such judges in 58 courts. Twenty-eight of them serve Texas; no immigration judge holds court in Laredo. Many of those awaiting hearings are held in detention centers or released on bond. In many cases, those on bond never come to their scheduled hearings. Cuellar said South Texas and Laredo have particular need for judges. On July 23, 2015, the occasion of Donald Trump's presidential campaign visit to Laredo, Cuellar said that Trump had "overgeneralized and exacerbated a rhetoric of immigrant crime that has offended many, particularly those of Mexican heritage". Cuellar added that Trump's meeting with border officials provided an opportunity for him to view Laredo as a "culturally rich and safe border community". In April 2017, Cuellar issued a statement accusing Trump of "threatening to shut down the government if he doesn't get to build his symbolic border wall. He wants to cut things like education, transportation, and health care, to fund his pet project. Now that he is facing bipartisan opposition to this irresponsible plan, he wants to punish the American people by shutting down the government." Cuellar was one of three Democrats to vote for Kate's Law, which expands maximum sentences for immigrants who reenter the U.S. after being deported. He supported legislation to strip federal funding for jurisdictions that have sanctuary policies in place. Other issues On June 15, 2007, Cuellar announced that he was endorsing then U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton for president in 2008, saying, "Senator