Republicans in Congress are calling on the Biden-Harris administration to provide answers as to why a former Cuban Communist Party official was granted an immigrant visa. Manuel Menendez Castellanos denied his membership in the communist party, but later admitted it in his application while trying to downplay his prominent role as First Secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Nevertheless, the Biden-Harris administration decided to violate immigration law and allow him entry into the U.S.
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.’”
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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.
No one should be surprised the Biden-Harris administration ignored immigration law and granted a communist party official an immigrant visa. After all, the Democrat Party has never hidden its affinity for Cuban communists.
Right, because ideological affinity and not giving a shit about Cubans, especially those people, who wouldn’t be voting Dem even if this dirtbag had been duly kept out of the US.