Angry Florida state lawmakers called on the Biden administration to investigate how a former high-ranking leader of the Cuban Communist Party who played a “role in the oppression of the Cuban people for decades” was recently allowed to immigrate to the United States.
Republican members of Florida’s congressional delegation expressed their “deep disgust” after it was revealed that communist politician Manuel Menendez Castellanos flew into Miami last week as part of a US-run visa parole program for Cubans, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
“We are outraged that an individual who was complicit in the oppression of the Cuban people for decades has been granted the extraordinary privilege of entry into the United States so that he can spend his retirement in freedom and comfort,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.
The lawmakers, led by Rep. Mario Diaz Balart of Miami, called on Biden administration officials to investigate the circumstances under which Menendez was allowed to enter the country, citing federal laws that generally prohibit members of the Communist Party from immigrating.
“We ask you to assess whether the law was followed in this case and, if not, what specific processes are in place to ensure that a similar error is not repeated,” they wrote.
“Given this prohibition in U.S. law, it seems likely to us that a high-ranking, long-standing member of the Cuban Communist Party and agent of that brutal dictatorship would be denied entry into the United States.”
Menendez was previously a high-ranking official of the Cuban Communist Party in the city of Cienfuegos, El Nuevo Herald reported.
He also represented Cuba at times in international forums and received awards from the Cuban government for this, the newspaper added.
Menendez was reportedly allowed to enter the United States under the Cuban Reunification Parole Program, which allows certain citizens and permanent U.S. residents to apply for humanitarian parole for their family members.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment on the latest arrival for privacy reasons.
The letter was co-signed by Republican Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez and Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.
