TSA officials apologize to county officials after bipartisan outrage over Cuban delegation tour of MIA

[Marcus IM]

Taking pandering to RW extremists to new lows ...

TSA officials apologize to county officials after bipartisan outrage over Cuban delegation tour of MIA

Transportation Security Administration officials are apologizing over a recent tour of Miami International Airport that was given to a Cuban delegation.

The tour prompted outrage among local lawmakers, as well as Republican lawmakers and Cuban-American exiles.

Some Republican lawmakers said on Friday that the apology is too little, too late. They argue that a foreign visit like the one at MIA should have never occurred and cannot ever happen again.

“We were all shocked,” said U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

“What happened here at MIA was totally inexcusable,” said U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.

Congressional Republicans slammed the Biden administration’s decision to allow a Cuban delegation to tour TSA facilities at MIA, such as a checkpoint and screening area, on Monday, which also fell on Cuban Independence Day.

Republicans said the tour weakened U.S. national security.

“We all fly through this airport. We want to be safe. How many people feel safe when you know that your state department is telling a state sponsor of terrorism, exactly all the security protocols that come through the airport?” said U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.

Airport officials explained what the tour consisted of.

“Yesterday, for approximately five hours, five members of the Cuban government, Cuban officials, the equivalent of their TSA, received a tour,” said Miami-Dade Aviation Department Director Ralph Cutié.

The visit caused an uproar during a meeting of the Miami-Dade Commission. County commissioners and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava were upset at the lack of communication between the county and federal officials.

“The administration, the airport director, no one related to Miami-Dade County government had any idea or any clue that this was ongoing,” said Vice Chairman Anthony Rodriguez.

Levine Cava pushed for answers from TSA.

“I have already contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to understand how this decision was made,” she said.

TSA responded with a meeting with county officials and an apology.

https://wsvn.com/news/local/miami-dade/tsa-officials-apologize-to-county-officials-after-bipartisan-outrage-over-cuban-delegation-tour-of-mia/

[Marcus IM]

1. Not only pandering, but apologizing to the RW fascist Cuban "exile" community

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava
@MayorDaniella
Today, I met with @dhsgov, @tsa and @statedept to share our community’s deep frustration about the visit of Cuban officials to MIA. The agencies apologized and committed to changing their protocols to ensure we are informed before any other foreign delegations tour our airport.

Link to tweet

[70sEraVet]

2. Rick Scott should be more worried about what Maralago visitors ....

were looking through our nation's classified information!

[Judi Lynn]

3. It's time the hard-right "exiles," the original wave Batista supporters and their offspring lose control of US policy

regarding not only over Cuba, but the rest of Latin America they managed to acquire under Ronald Reagan. They have held the reigns too long, demanding total support from the US Congress, while taking enormous financial funding annually, receiving privileges not extended to any other immigrants, claiming to have fled from a brutal dictator while managing, over the years, to still take trips back to Cuba, all these long years. Weren't they terrified the terrible dictator would catch them and throw them in prison?

They also have managed to keep ordinary US citizens to be barred from going to Cuba for decades, while they blithely come and go, often carrying tons of packages with them.

They have continued their rancid, vicious politics here which brought on the revolution in Cuba, where they had absolute power, unfortunately.

Shameful.

Every 4 years we all can see politicians running for national offices showing up in Miami to take photo-ops with exile leaders, and "impromptu" photos taken of them drinking Cuban coffee at the local popular restaurant, The Versailles. Disgusting, and so wrong.

Patriotic Cubans were able to overthrow them in 1969. We should, too!

This is another obnoxious moment in Miami history, Marcus IM! Just like time they tried to keep Elián González from returning home to his father, step-mother, brother's, 4 grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many cousins, schoolmates, and neighbors!