Trump’s Caribbean strike, focus on Latin America brings new focus to potential regime ‘agents’ living in US
EXCLUSIVE: After President Donald Trump directed a rare U.S. defense posture toward Latin America with a military strike in the Caribbean against alleged drug-smuggling gang members and a bounty on the head of a Central American strongman leader, the nation’s only Cuban-born lawmaker called Tuesday for new attention to Havana as well.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who fled dictator Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1960 as a young boy, called on the Department of Homeland Security to act upon or at the least investigate a list of dozens of people his office and/or human rights organizations had identified as tied to the current regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel or the deceased Castro brothers.
Gimenez, who also represents the congressional district closest to Cuba in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, warned DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of the “presence of agents of the murderous Castro regime and the Communist Party of Cuba currently residing in the United States.”
A spokesperson for DHS indicated Tuesday the department was looking into the matter.
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The letter adds to a drumbeat of pressure on the administration to broaden its crackdown beyond Venezuela to Cuba, a regime Gimenez and others argue is on its “last breath.”
Earlier this year, the Cuban-born lawmaker told Fox Business that the U.S. should “freeze the regime’s economic oxygen,” predicting, “The Castro regime is on the edge, and President Trump should kick them over the edge.”
The letter listed people Gimenez said are in the U.S. under humanitarian programs whom pro-democracy groups link to Diaz-Canel’s communist regime and accuse of “perpetrating countless human rights abuses.”
More broadly, the Trump administration has taken swift action against Latin American threats, including an airstrike on a skiff that was carrying suspected gang member terrorists reportedly trafficking drugs.
The feds considered the strike in self-defense of the homeland, but critics in Congress expressed concerns over its alignment with the War Powers Act.
The move marked one of the most muscular U.S. military actions in the hemisphere in years and followed the administration’s decision to place a $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head.
Trump previously named Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles as foreign terrorist organizations, which gives the government broader leeway in tactics used to combat such threats.
Three warships were deployed to the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela in another example of the Trump administration’s growing concern over regional threats in America’s hemisphere.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine touched down in Puerto Rico Monday to bolster military operations there.
Puerto Rico Republican Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón and first gentleman Jose Yovin Vargas thanked the administration for recognizing the island protectorate’s “strategic importance to our national security” as Hegseth also indicated to troops in the region their deployment wasn’t for training purposes.
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Together, the steps suggest a renewed focus on countering the region’s cartels, dictatorships and migration pressures after years of U.S. attention centered on the Middle East and Asia. That backdrop has emboldened Cuban-American lawmakers and activists to call for parallel action against Havana.
Of the names in Gimenez’ letter, several are labeled as tied to or members of Brigadas de Accion Rapida, or Rapid Response Brigade. That group is made up of designated citizens who essentially patrol for dissidents.
The letter followed a similar missive in March that first brought to light the potential for numerous Cuban agents living under the radar in the U.S.
“It is crucial that the Department of Homeland Security enforce existing U.S. laws to identify, deport, and repatriate these individuals who pose a threat to our national security,” Gimenez wrote in the letter.
In his original letter, Gimenez warned many of the individuals “gamed” the immigration system and therefore are a “direct insult” to legitimate Cuban exiles who fled to Florida and beyond seeking the personal freedoms their families once enjoyed on the island.
Gimenez spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital earlier this year when he joined a congressional delegation to Guantanamo Bay’s U.S. military installation.
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He said he was overcome with emotion upon returning to his homeland for the first time in 64 years, noting it was bittersweet that he could not actually visit Cuba proper.
The Miami lawmaker asked Noem to provide a report by Sept. 26 detailing whether DHS has investigated the listed names, pursued deportation or removal proceedings, and, if not, why no action was taken.
Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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