Cuban exiles warn that former regime members are seeking to enter the U.S. as exodus continues

Former members of the Cuban regime are among the hundreds of thousands seeking to leave the island, currently going through a deep economic crisis, and enter the United States, an organization claimed.

The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba compiled a database including over 1,000 people who, it says, were part of the government and engaged in surveillance, harassment, bullying and the imprisonment of dissidents and peaceful demonstrators, and now want to go to the U.S.

Rolando Cartaya, a researcher in the organization, said 115 are already living in the country. They include former high-ranking officials in the Communist Party, Interior Ministry officials, police officers, government attorneys and judges.

"These people who repressed us, who beat us, are living and enjoying freedom in this great country," said Elixir Arando, a member of the organization, in a press conference covered by the Miami Herald.

Attendants added that while former regime members have been moving to the U.S. for years, those included in the list have not publicly repudiated it and could pose a "national security" threat. "They are going to be voting to destabilize the country," Arando said during a passage of the conference.

Many have been entering the country through the CHNV humanitarian program that allows Cubans, along with Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, apply for asylum in the country.

Former regime members have been able to get in because they are not required to disclose involvement in human-rights violations or membership of totalitarian parties. They mainly need a sponsor who can ensure their financial support when they enter the country. The program was recently halted due to allegations of widespread fraud, but is set to resume shortly after an assessment by the Department of Homeland Security.

Some cases have not gone under the radar, causing outrage among public figures. Florida Republicans recently sent a letter to the Biden administration demanding to know how Manuel Menendez Castellanos, who according to Cuban outlets was a secretary in the party and close to Fidel Castro, was allowed to enter the country.

The letter was addressed at Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It was signed by Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maríia Elvira Salazar, as well as Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.

It urges them to investigate why he was allowed to enter the country, noting that federal laws generally prevent members of foreign "totalitarian parties " to immigrate. "Any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible," the letter recalls.

Florida Republicans introduced in July 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.