North Miami-Dade News

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) joined his colleagues Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; Tom McClintock (R-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement; Carlos A. Giménez (R-FL); and María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) in sending two letters to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The letters demand information related to Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, a former Cuban regime official who entered the United States on August 15, 2024, through Miami International Airport under a family reunification process.

Menéndez Castellanos, a former provincial-level Communist Party chief and member of Fidel Castro's "coordination and support team," received an immigrant visa from the Department of State based on his status as the parent of a U.S. citizen. He held significant positions within the Communist Party of Cuba, including First Secretary in Cienfuegos from 1993 to 2003. Despite his documented affiliation with the Communist Party of Cuba, the Biden-Harris Administration's vetting process failed to identify his prior membership and involvement with Castro's regime.

Records obtained by the Committee reveal discrepancies in Menéndez Castellanos’s visa application and background checks that did not flag him as inadmissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which deems immigrants affiliated with communist or totalitarian parties inadmissible. The letter requests detailed information about Menéndez Castellanos’s case, including his alien file, entry records into the U.S., and explanations for lapses in the vetting process.

Excerpts from the letter to Secretary Blinken state:

“On August 15, 2024, Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, a Cuban national and a well-known ‘former provincial-level Communist Party chief who belonged to Fidel Castro’s “coordination and support team,”’ entered the United States at Miami International Airport through ‘a family reunification process.’ According to press reports, in 1972, Menéndez Castellanos ‘joined the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) and was later promoted to First Secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos, a position he held from 1993 to 2003.’ Menéndez Castellanos ‘also represented the Cuban regime in international events.’ According to Biden-Harris Administration records obtained by the Committee, based on his status as a parent of an adult U.S. citizen, Menéndez Castellanos was issued an immigrant visa by the Department of State. He then entered the United States at a U.S. port of entry pursuant to that immigrant visa.

“Menéndez Castellanos’s entry into the United States raises serious questions about the Biden-Harris Administration’s application of federal immigration law and vetting procedures used during the immigrant visa application process. Under INA provisions an alien is inadmissible if they 'are or have been members or affiliates' with any communist or totalitarian party. According to Biden-Harris Administration records obtained by our Committee during his immigrant visa application when questioned by immigration officials he denied any membership or affiliation with such parties despite evidence otherwise.”

The letter continues: “Incredibly advanced background vetting did not find any information making him inadmissible under INA regulations despite overwhelming publicly available evidence regarding long-time extensive work within that regime.”

It concludes: “This admission further underscores lax approaches towards national security highlighting continued desires placating communist regimes undermining America’s values standing globally.”

The full letters addressed respectively can be accessed here for Mayorkas [link] & Blinken [link].