Lawmakers condemn arrival of Cuban Communist Party leader who’s come to live in Miami
Republican members of Florida’s congressional delegation have complained to the Biden administration that a former high-ranking communist official from Cuba recently immigrated to the United States through Miami International Airport.
“We are outraged that an individual with a role in suppressing the Cuban people for decades was permitted the extraordinary privilege of U.S. entry so that he could spend his retirement in freedom and comfort,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Aug. 21 note, spearheaded by Rep. Mario Diaz Balart of Miami, says Manuel Menendez Castellanos flew into MIA last week. The lawmakers urged the two Biden administration cabinet officials to investigate the circumstances of Menendez’s entry, and pointed to federal laws that generally bar members of foreign totalitarian or communist parties from immigrating to the U.S. Marti Noticias, part of the government-run U.S. Agency for Global Media, first reported Menendez’s arrival in Miami.
“We request that you assess whether the law was followed in this case and if not, what specific processes are in place to ensure that a similar mistake does not recur,” the lawmakers’ letter said. “Given this prohibition in U.S. law, it would seem likely to us that a high-level, longtime Cuban Communist Party member and agent of that brutal dictatorship would be inadmissible for U.S. entry.”
Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez and Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott also signed the letter.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the Miami Herald that due to privacy reasons it can not comment on an individual’s processing and entry into the United States.
El Nuevo Herald previously reported that Menendez was at one time the top official in Cuba’s communist party in the central city of Cienfuegos, represented the island in international forums, and was given several awards by the government.
Marti Noticias said Menendez arrived in Miami through the Cuban Reunification Parole Program, which allows certain U.S. citizens and permanent residents to request that the federal government grant humanitarian parole to family members from the island. A year and a day after entering the U.S., eligible Cubans who are paroled or admitted into the U.S. can apply for permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
The Biden administration resumed the program in June 2022 after a six-year hiatus. In August 2023, Homeland Security announced it would make it easier for people to apply through the program by making most of the application process virtual.
The development also comes after a judge from the province of Villa Clara who sentenced a group of youths for protesting in the historic 11 of July protests was recently denied humanitarian parole after arriving in Florida. She had come under the Biden administration parole program that allows Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans to live and work in the United States for up to two years as long as they have a sponsor and pass background and health checks. Federal authorities detained her and she has applied for asylum.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 2:59 PM.