Biden plays checkers as Cuba’s wily chess moves weaken U.S. security | Guest Opinion

President Biden has brought the crisis he created on our southern border to Florida’s front door.

With U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting a 400% increase in migrant encounters in South Florida since October 2022, and mass arrivals of Cubans to the Florida Keys and the islands making up Dry Tortugas National Park, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay and I spoke with Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to press for answers and resources to address the growing crisis.

It is unacceptable that Floridians face yet another devastating consequence of the president’s shameful appeasement of the communist regime in Cuba.

Many Floridians, especially those in South Florida, understand well the significant role that the Castro/Díaz-Canel regime has played in exploiting the United States by stoking instability across Latin America, supporting ruthless dictators such as Nicolás Maduro and Daniel Ortega and driving mass migration as leverage to benefit its illegitimate government and its evil allies in Communist China, Russia and Iran.

The Cuban regime has effectively used this playbook for decades. We saw it during the 1980 Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis.

But the scope of today’s mass migration from Cuba dwarfs the previous events. Last year, more than 250,000 Cubans illegally migrated to the United States, more than came during the exodus of 1980 and 1994 combined. Note that each of these events occurred during Democratic administrations.

None of this is a coincidence or unexpected. For decades, Cuba has used the appeasement advanced by Democratic presidents to grow its influence and exert its will. It’s clear that Cuba has a strategy here: In November 2021, the Ortega regime in Nicaragua announced that it would eliminate the visa requirement for Cuban nationals. Most everyone saw this move for what it was: a way for the Cuban regime to push Cubans out and put them on a glide path for illegal immigration to the United States through our southern border.

While the Castro/Díaz-Canel regime is playing chess to grow its influence across our hemisphere, Biden is playing checkers, and America is losing on all fronts. Cuba’s dictatorship is weaponizing mass migration for two reasons: It is terrified of the growing movement for freedom and democracy on the island; and pushing thousands of Cubans off the island and our country helps it get what it wants — more appeasement from the United States, which helps fund its oppression. And Biden is getting nothing in return to help the Cuban people advance their fight for freedom.

Biden first needs to secure our border. An open border benefits Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which engage with cartels to illegally traffic drugs and innocent people, including children, across the U.S. border. An open border is a gift to these regimes and narco-terrorists and it must end now.

To help end Biden’s border crisis, I am fighting to pass my “Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act” to extend Customs’ U.S. water territory to 24 nautical miles from 12. We must give CBP and the Coast Guard the tools to stop both illegal migration and drug trafficking off our shores.

Then, if Biden is serious about supporting freedom and democracy in Latin America, he should call for the immediate passage of my DEMOCRACIA Act, which authorizes the president to use all means possible to provide stable, unrestricted internet to the Cuban people to reconnect them with each other and the world. This bill would also impose severe sanctions to punish the illegitimate regime in Cuba and all who support its oppression.

If Biden did this today, and my bill became law, our hemisphere would be a safer place, and the freedom movements in Latin America would be emboldened.

Biden’s broken border has brought this crisis to Florida’s doorstep. Now, the president should listen to my fellow Floridians, especially those who have lived through and escaped the oppression in Cuba and other dictatorships. He should heed our calls to secure the border and end his shameful appeasement agenda that is threatening America’s national security. It is standing in the way of progress and stability in the hemisphere.

Rick Scott, a Republican, represents Florida in the U.S. Senate. He is a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He is a former governor of Florida.

This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 3:40 PM.