{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/2024/10/sen-rick-scott-joins-sen-marco-rubio-in-letter-to-biden-harris-officials-individuals-tied-to-cuban-regime-are-not-welcome", "Sen. Rick Scott Joins Sen. Marco Rubio in Letter to Biden-Harris Officials: Individuals Tied to Cuban Regime Are Not Welcome", "2024-10-24", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "Senate", "FL", "Rick Scott", "S001217", "www.rickscott.senate.gov", "rickscott", "https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/press-releases/", "page_html", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Following reports that the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s mass immigration program has allowed individuals tied to the illegitimate Cuban regime to enter and reside in the U.S., Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Marco Rubio in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas calling for a review of the procedures for making determinations on entry and promptly removing those Cuban regime members from our country. Under U.S. law, any individual who has been, or is affiliated with a Communist Party is deemed inadmissible for entry into our nation. Joining the senators on the letter are Representatives Carlos Gim\u00e9nez and Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar.\n\nThe members wrote, \u201cThe United States must ensure that former Cuban regime members involved in the oppression of innocent Cuban citizens or the transnational persecution of Cuban-Americans are not welcome into our country. Additionally, applicants who have been found to have similar troubling backgrounds, and links after arrival, should not be allowed to continue to remain in the United States\u2026 We urge the administration to publicly communicate the vetting procedures and standards by which these immigration decisions are made, in order to ensure the utmost transparency and accountability.\u201d\n\nRead the full letter HERE or below.\n\nDear Secretary Blinken and Secretary Mayorkas:\n\nWe write with serious concern about the Biden-Harris Administration\u2019s decision to grant parole to Cuban Revolutionary Air Force Colonel Luis Ra\u00fal Gonz\u00e1lez-Pardo Rodr\u00edguez. As you are no doubt aware, Gonz\u00e1lez-Pardo is notoriously linked to the international incident of February 24, 1996, when two planes belonging to the humanitarian organization, Brothers to the Rescue, were unconscionably shot down by Cuban MiG-29 fighter jets under orders of Raul Castro. This incident tragically resulted in the deaths of four innocent Cuban-American pilots.\n\nMore disturbingly, this negligent oversight comes in the wake of another ill-considered decision to admit former high-ranking Cuban Communist Party regime member Manuel Menendez Castellanos, implicated in acts of oppression against the Cuban people. Taken together, these outcomes, among others, erode confidence in the competence of the administration to recognize threats to the United States and ensure those who have done us harm are not able to enter the United States.\n\nWe call on the Biden-Harris Administration to immediately review and revise the procedures used by U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of State for making determinations on whom it grants entry, whether it be humanitarian parole or immigrant/nonimmigrant visas. The current process, by virtue of the unacceptable results annotated above, has demonstrated its woeful inadequateness to properly vet applicants and to protect U.S. national security.\n\nThe United States must ensure that former Cuban regime members involved in the oppression of innocent Cuban citizens or the transnational persecution of Cuban-Americans are not welcome into our country. Additionally, applicants who have been found to have similar troubling backgrounds, and links after arrival, should not be allowed to continue to remain in the United States. We also urge the administration to publicly communicate the vetting procedures and standards by which these immigration decisions are made, in order to ensure the utmost transparency and accountability.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-03-30T11:08:25Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/2024/10/sen-rick-scott-joins-sen-marco-rubio-in-letter-to-biden-harris-officials-individuals-tied-to-cuban-regime-are-not-welcome"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2545480858534575, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}