Biden Administration Lets Communists In: Florida Representatives Want Answers

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After Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody urged the Biden Administration to “stop its continued support of Cuba’s communist interests” in May, high-level Cuban Communist Official Manuel Menendez Castellanos was given special permission to enter the United States, which potentially violates federal law. Then, the Biden Administration may be allowing possible national security threats to attend the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York this September 17.

Both matters have some of Florida’s Republican representatives concerned. Rick Scott, Marco Rubio, and other representatives sent two letters to federal officials, including the President, expressing “profound disgust” and requesting answers, an assessment of whether federal law is being followed, and the denial of entry for the potential national security threats in question.

Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Rick Scott, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Congressman Carlos A. Gimenez, and Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar voiced their opinions regarding Castellanos in a letter dated August 21, 2024, written to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

They noted that multiple press reports showed Castellanos, who is “a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, the Central Workers’ Union in 1972, was First Secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos (1993 and 2003), and a deputy in the National Assembly for years, as well as a member of Fidel Castro’s notorious ‘coordination and support team’” had “entered the United States through Miami International Airport” during the week of August 12.

The representatives claim that this violates INA 212(a)(3)(D)(i), a federal law that prohibits anyone who is affiliated with, or who is a member of, the Communist Party from entering the United States. As such, they are “outraged” that Castellanos “was permitted the extraordinary privilege of U.S. entry so that he could spend his retirement in freedom and comfort”.

All five representatives have requested an assessment as to whether federal law was followed and what actions can be taken to prevent this from happening again in the future if not.

Taking things one step further, Scott, Rubio, Iowa’s Senator Jodi K. Ernst, Arkansas’ Senator Tom Cotton, and Oklahoma’s Senator Markwayne Mullin proceeded to send a different letter the next day, August 22, 2024, to President Biden.

This letter’s purpose was to “express grave concerns about the potential attendance of multiple individuals who are a threat to U.S. national security at the upcoming [UN] General Assembly in New York City this September”. These individuals include “Khamenei-installed [Iranian] President Masoud Pezeshkian, Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the narco-dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro”.

Pezeshkian “publicly vowed to continue his predecessor, the ‘Butcher of Tehran’s’ policies of targeting Israel and the United States”, “recently carried out an attack on U.S. service members stationed at Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, severely injuring five Americans”, and more.

Díaz-Canel “inherited and has maintained the Castro dictatorship and brutal oppression of the Cuban people”, “has a decades-long history of threatening America”, allowed “Communist China to build a spy base 90-miles from the” United States coastline, and more.

Maduro “is actively attempting to steal an election from the Venezuelan people and jailing his political opponents”, has an “extensive background of human rights abuses”, is “fueling the illegal immigration crisis on the U.S. southern border and pushing scores of dangerous criminals into our country”, and more.

So, while the senators acknowledge that “the UN General Assembly is a forum for diplomatic negotiations and dialogue, the United States has historically taken principled stands against welcoming foreign leaders who threaten our values and interests to participate in this event on our soil”.
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The senators believe that approving visas for Pezeshkian, Díaz-Canel, and Maduro “would undermine our national security” and finds that if their participation was allowed, then the UN General Assembly may just become “a stage for the most evil leaders on Earth to gain credibility and promote their dangerous views”.

In a closing remark, the senators say that by upholding federal law and denying officials like Pezeshkian, Díaz-Canel, Maduro, and Castellanos entry into the United States “would reaffirm our commitment to upholding the principles of freedom and democracy while sending a clear message that we stand firmly against oppressive regimes”.

Article by Ema Tibbetts