Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) recently wrote to State Secretary Marco Rubio urging the cutting of foreign aid money to the Dominican Republic, as the Caribbean country continues unlawfully jailing political opponents and possibly Americans.
For additional context, Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) wrote to former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in August 2023, saying there was "a disconnect between the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo and the State Department headquarters in Washington regarding the number of Americans held in prison."
The Daily Caller reported on the issue shortly after Rep. McCaul wrote the letter, noting that the Dominican Republic has a "preventative detention" system that allows people to be arrested and held without ever being formally charged or informed of a trial date.
Ironically, as Rep. Steube noted in his recent letter, the Biden Administration praised the Dominican Republic as a "democratic bright spot" and funneled millions in foreign aid to the country.
"Unsurprisingly, this money went into bloated, inefficient foreign aid programs that were riddled with waste, corruption, and ideological bias," the Florida Congressman said in his letter, adding, "As I've frequently stated, USAID dollars routinely end up in the hands of bad actors who do not have America's interests in mind and misuse the funds for purposes far removed from their original intent."
More egregiously, an unknown number of Americans are currently held prisoner by the country. Still, whether or not they are held in preventative detention or prison proper remains equally unknown, a question that has gone unanswered since the assumption of President Trump in January.
As a result, as Steube urged for the reevaluation of foreign aid to the Dominican Republic, he also asked for the exact number of Americans held prisoner by the country and how much American money went into funding the preventative detention program it practices.
"From its abandonment of Americans in Afghanistan to the inability to account for U.S. citizens suffering in Dominican prisons, it is obvious the Biden administration did not care for the safety of Americans abroad," Steube scathingly concluded.
The Florida Congressman has called for the rethinking of American aid money going to other countries since February, calling for the halting of all aid and security assistance to Iraq until it expels pro-Iran Shia militias that have attacked American troops from its security apparatus.
In March, Steube introduced the PAGER Act, which would similarly cut off American security assistance to Lebanon until it denounced Hezbollah.
