Several House Republican lawmakers demanded answers from the Harris-Biden administration on Monday as to why a former top Cuban Communist Party official was issued an immigrant visa, allowing him to legally migrate to the US.
Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.), María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) slammed the “lapses in vetting” that allowed Manuel Menendez Castellanos to fly into Miami via a US-run visa parole program for Cubans, in letters sent to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Menendez Castellanos’s entry into the United States raises serious questions about the Biden-Harris Administration’s application of federal immigration law and the vetting procedures used during the immigrant visa application process,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an alien is inadmissible as an immigrant if the alien ‘is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist, or any other totalitarian party, domestic or foreign.’”
Menendez was previously a top official within Cuba’s Communist Party in the city of Cienfuegos, El Nuevo Herald reported earlier this month.
He also represented Cuba at international forums and was given awards by the Cuban government, the outlet added.
In his role as a provincial-level Communist Party chief, Menendez was a member of late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s “coordination and support team” and he played a role “in suppressing the Cuban people for decades,” according to the lawmakers.
Menendez was allowed to enter the US under the Cuban Reunification Parole Program on Aug. 15, on the basis that he is the parent of a US citizen.
The House Judiciary Committee investigated Menendez’s immigrant visa application and found that when questioned by immigration officials, Menendez denied any affiliation with Cuba’s Communist Party.
However, in a subsequent immigration application document, the committee found that Menendez admitted to and downplayed previous membership in the Communist Party of Cuba.
In their letter to Mayorkas and Blinken, the lawmakers expressed shock that Menendez was not deemed inadmissible under the INA, given his admission and reports of his past work for the Castro regime.
“While the INA contains a limited number of exceptions to the inadmissibility ground, it does not appear that the Biden-Harris Administration even invoked one of the exceptions to approve an immigrant visa for Menéndez Castellanos,” the lawmakers wrote. “Instead, Biden-Harris Administration immigration officials seemingly ignored Menéndez Castellanos’s own admission as to his affiliation with the Communist Party of Cuba.”
“Potentially even more concerning is that security vetting conducted by the Biden-Harris Administration failed to find evidence that Menéndez Castellanos was affiliated with Fidel Castro’s brutal regime, despite overwhelming publicly-available evidence of his long-time and extensive work within that regime,” they added. “Had the Biden-Harris Administration bothered to conduct a simple, five-minute internet search, it would have uncovered Menéndez Castellanos’s disturbing ties to the Castro regime.”
The congressional reps called it “inexcusable” that Menendez was allowed entry into the US, and argued that his admittance underscored the Harris-Biden administration’s “lax approach to national security” and “desire to placate Communist regimes and undermine America’s values and standing on the world stage.”
The committee demanded all of Menendez’s immigration files as well as explanations from Mayorkas and Blinken about the “lapses in vetting” that occurred and why Menendez was not deemed inadmissible under the INA.
The Post has reached out to the State Department and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
