Florida House Republicans are joining forces to call on the Biden Administration to deny the asylum claim for Rosabel Roca Sampedro, a Cuban official. Florida Reps. María Elvira Salazar (R), Mario Diaz-Balart (R), and Carlos Gimenez (R) are expressing their concern over Roca Sampedro making entry into the country.
The Cuban official in question is seeking asylum in the country. However, Florida lawmakers have cited her history of jailing innocent citizens during the July 11th protests in 2021, which included four young people.
The Cuban regime cracked down on protestors for shouting "Libertad." Many of the political prisoners who were taken into custody were minors who had joined the protests. Rosabel Roca Sampedro was a prosecutor from Camagüey, Cuba, and she is notoriously known for using her office to punish demonstrators during the protests on July 11th.
Of the people who were tried and convicted, 4 young people were sentenced to an average of 4 years in prison for having taken part in the protest. In addition, earlier this year, Roca Sampedro took her daughter to Mexico and applied for asylum through the CBP One app from the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to a press release from Rep. Salazar's office, Roca Sampedro's plan was to enter the country and move to Houston.
Given that the United States has the right and authority to block entry from individuals who were involved with human rights abuses, the lawmakers have issued a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling on the Biden Administration to deny entry o Roca Sampedro.
In the letter, the lawmakers note that “Rosabel Roca Sampedro was a prosecutor in Camagüey, Cuba who was directly complicit in sending at least four innocent individuals to prison for terms ranging from more than three years to over four years for their participation in the July 11, 2021 (“11J”) protests.”
“With the continued repression and human rights abuses occurring in Cuba today, we must ensure that those individuals who act on behalf of a cruel regime that actively opposes U.S. interests, should not benefit from the extraordinary privilege of U.S. entry.”
