Mario Diaz-Balart
The online locator system expansion request was sent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Antonio Fins, Stephany Matat
Palm Beach Post
Even as their party seeks his resignation, three Miami congressional Republicans last month asked for an assist from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas amid a surge in Cubans heading to Florida.
U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar, all Cuban-Americans, asked Mayorkas to add Cubans stopped at sea to a federal government-run online database listing would-be refugees and immigrants. Their Dec. 2 letter predated the national headlining of the Cuban migration surge when a group of 300 landed at Dry Tortugas National Park on New Year’s Day, temporarily shutting down the remote attraction in the middle of the holiday weekend.