To start with ON FOX: Florida lawmakers in Congress are contacting for responses from the Section of Homeland Safety about a tour of protected parts of Miami Intercontinental Airport by federal officials — which has raised national safety fears from both regional and countrywide lawmakers.
“You are using brokers from a state which is on the record of condition sponsors of terrorism. And you might be displaying them our methods and our tools and our sensitive regions that secure the American community from terrorism. So how does that make perception?” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Fox Information Electronic in an job interview.
Republican lawmakers led by Gimenez wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and TSA Administrator David Pekoske about the tour, which took position on Monday at the Miami airport.
Other lawmakers on the letter consist of Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, and Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Mario Diaz-Balart.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., speaks through the information meeting to announce the development of the Hispanic Leadership Trust at the Republican Nationwide Committee headquarters in Washington on Tuesday, May possibly 17, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Get in touch with, Inc via Getty Pictures)
CBS News Miami reported that officials said the five-hour tour involved a tour of delicate spots of the airport — a security checkpoint and a baggage display screen area.
“You happen to be having agents of the Cuban Communist Celebration and showing them the TSA equipment and treatments at Miami International Airport, where by there is certainly a community of about a million Cuban exiles, that were exiled owing to that identical routine. It’s a slap in the facial area of that community,” Gimenez reported.
He also observed that the visit purportedly took spot on May possibly 20th — Cuban Independence Working day.
A Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) agents patch is witnessed as she can help vacationers put their luggage by means of the 3-D scanner at the Miami Worldwide Airport on Could 21, 2019 in Miami, Florida. ((Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Visuals))
“You are also executing it on May well 20th. May 20th is the equivalent of July 4th listed here. So it truly is Cuban Independence Day, you are performing it in Miami, and you’re showing it to who? The brokers of the routine that have been oppressing the Cuban people for above 60 several years.”
“You might be incorporating insult on insult, insult to injuries,” he additional.
In the letter, the lawmakers say that it is not the first time that Cuban delegations have been provided tours, pointing to tours of the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters past year and a go to of port facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“Underneath your enjoy, Cuban operatives have yet again accessed sensitive, protected places inside of the U.S. transportation procedure. Still again, Congress should phase in to stop your Office and the Biden Administration from internet hosting people from a country which our Department of Condition has detailed as a SSOT due to the fact 2021,” the lawmakers explained.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 18: U.S. Homeland Stability Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks for the duration of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on the departments price range ask for on Capitol Hill on April 18, 2024 in Washington, DC. ((Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures))
The lawmakers want to know which statutory authority officials invited members of the Cuban govt under, the locations accessed, the course of action for internet hosting tours, any visas that had been issued and the security protocols in area.
In reaction to the letter, a DHS spokesperson reported it “responds to congressional correspondence specifically by using formal channels, and the Department will continue on to answer correctly to Congressional oversight.”
A TSA spokesperson instructed Fox that it “routinely functions with all international locations with immediate flights to the United States.”
“TSA hosts federal government officers and customers of the aviation neighborhood at U.S. airports to foster a potent global aviation stability posture.U.S. and Cuban authorities jointly handle the airspace among Cuba and the United States and guarantee the safety and safety of travelers making use of our airports,” the spokesperson explained. “The Republic of Cuba has 6 very last position of departure airports with immediate flights to the United States, and accordingly TSA continually performs to fortify the security framework with Cuba and other Caribbean nations.
The company claims that Cuban officials did not entry sensitive technology or units and as a substitute acquired a standard overview of safety functions, together with Equipments that any individual screened can see, along with best procedures so that Cuba can implement very similar actions. It also stated that Miami Worldwide Airport recently welcomed officials from Antigua, Barbados, Spain and Brazil for very similar visits and that the past these types of Cuban delegation go to came in August 2018.
A Condition Dept. spokesperson told The Miami Herald that airport assessments by Cuban officers started in 2011, soon after the U.S. commenced assessments of Cuban airports in 2003 and that these types of visits also took put through the Trump administration.
“Aviation protection is obviously in the national curiosity,” the spokesperson informed the outlet. “Offered Cuba’s proximity and the existence of direct flights to and from our international locations, U.S. and Cuban authorities ought to collaborate even though just about every doing work to guarantee the security and stability of vacationers at airports. As we have famous continuously, we will interact with the Cuban authorities when it is in the U.S. national curiosity to do so.
But the tour introduced outrage from Democrats as nicely. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., reported that the Cuban govt “ought to have no area in our authorities. Conclusion OF Story!”
“They ought to not have been invited to Miami Intercontinental Airport and as a Transportation committee member, I’ll be achieving out to TSA to find responses as to how this transpired,” she mentioned.
Democratic Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava said she was “stunned” to study of the invitation and distanced herself from the shift.
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“The choice to allow for Cuban officers to tour secure spots at MIA was created with no the knowledge of the Miami-Dade Aviation Dept. and took place on Cuban Independence Day — a day that we reaffirm our determination to liberty and democracy in Cuba in the face of a brutal dictatorship.
Emilio González, a former Miami Global Airport Director and Miami Metropolis Supervisor, instructed Florida Politics that “heads should roll.”
“No frequent perception and (a) absence of protection awareness,” he stated.
In the meantime, Gimenez is the chair of the subcommittee that oversees TSA and explained to Fox Digital that he has an eye on possible hearings on the make any difference.
“If you are accomplishing it with Cuba, who else are you undertaking it with?”
