Two Florida Republicans introduced legislation aimed at banning states considered to be sponsors of terrorism from accessing TSA areas, following generalized uproar in the state due to a visit from Cuban officials to Miami International Airport.
Concretely, the bill was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Carlos Giménez, with the latter calling the visit by Cuban officials a "direct slap in the face to the Cuban exile community here in Miami-Dade County."
The bill seeks to prevent any such visits from taking place again. Giménez, former Miami mayor and chair of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation and maritime security, blamed President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the visit, saying they "granted agents of the Castro regime access to our sensitive TSA facilities at Miami International Airport."
"This pathetic and dangerous decision undermines our national security and puts passengers in serious risk," Gimenez Said.
On his end, Rubio said that "we must ensure this administration is not enabling foreign operatives to learn of our aviation security measures aimed at keeping Americans safe." The initiative has bipartisan support, including from Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Jared Moskowitz, as well as Republicans Rick Scott and Mario Díaz-Balart.
Besides Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria are included in the law, although last month the Biden administration removed Cuba from the list of countries considered uncooperative with U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
Officials from the Caribbean country were granted access by federal agencies to inspect a TSA checkpoint and baggage screening area at the airport in mid-May.
As reported by Axios, MIA director Ralph Cutie said the federal agencies did not inform him or Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava about the tour, adding that "as a Cuban American and native Miamian, I'm appalled that this took place."
Levine Cava, on her end, said her office contacted the Department of Homeland Security to get answers and request county involvement in "any future decisions regarding granting access to MIA facilities to foreign government officials."
She later added that "the agencies apologized and committed to changing their protocols to ensure we are informed before any other foreign delegations tour our airport."
The officials' visit happened during Cuban Independence Day, something that furthered angered Cuban-American members of the Miami Dade County Commission.
Republican Commissioner Raquel Regalado said that "the fact that they did it on the day that they did it just proves that it was done to be hurtful and to make a point and to try to hurt the Cuban community."
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