Cuban Operative Linked to Killing of Americans Enters the U.S. via the CHNV Parole Program

FAIR Take | September 2024

A Cuban government operative allegedly involved in the 1996 downing of two small civilian aircraft and the killing of their American passengers recently flew into the U.S. and was released on immigration parole to live and work freely in the United States. Although the Cuban operative had no visa or other legal authorization to enter the U.S., border officials allowed him to enter the U.S. through the Biden-Harris parole program that benefits Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, also known as the CHNV parole program. Currently, it’s believed the Cuban operative is living in Jacksonville, Florida.

According to the Miami Herald, Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo, a former Cuban Air Force pilot and lieutenant colonel, arrived in the United States in April of this year, was granted parole, and subsequently issued a work permit. It’s unclear how he evaded any scrutiny by the U.S. government, but because the Cuban government does not ordinarily give the U.S. information on its nationals, it’s believed that the Department of Homeland Security simply did not realize that González-Pardo was potentially one of the pilots involved in the “Brothers to the Rescue” shoot-down of 1996. In that incident, two Cuban MiGs chased three small civilian aircraft belonging to a Cuban exile organization called Brothers to the Rescue and shot down two of them over international waters, killing American citizens Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña and a U.S. resident of Cuban origin, Pablo Morales.

Gonzalez-Pardo denies that he was involved in the incident. However, he is also allegedly tied to another Cuban spy, Gerardo Hernandez, who served 16 years in U.S. prison for conspiracy to commit espionage and murder. In December 2014, President Obama released Gerardo Hernandez even though he was to serve a double life sentence with no possibility of parole.

The Miami Herald asked the federal government for more information, but got nothing. A State Department spokesperson said, “visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases.” The Department of Homeland Security has not yet responded.

Members of Congress, however, have taken notice. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida authored a letter, co-signed by several Members of Congress, demanding answers, arguing that the families of the humanitarian rescue group deserved justice. The Members said it was “an insult to [the families] and a disgraceful travesty of justice that the Obama Administration released the one person who had been held accountable for their murders in a concession to the regime in Cuba.” The members requested that the “egregious error” of granting parole to Gonzalez-Pardo be immediately rectified and that the Biden-Harris administration “expeditiously overhaul the failed vetting process which has resulted in several high-level Cuban Communist Party operatives entering the United States in the past four years.”

Senators Rubio and Scott also sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Senators criticized the government’s current screening process for parole, stating that by virtue of its “unacceptable results…has demonstrated its woeful inadequateness to properly vet applicants and to protect U.S. national security.”

To date, the congressional offices have been ignored by the administration. But, silence from the administration is not new. Secretary Mayorkas and USCIS Director Ur Jaddou, who is in charge of the CHNV parole program, have not fully addressed the fraud concerns nor the internal fraud report exposed by FAIR. Now, the Biden-Harris administration is having to answer for the real-life consequences of its illegal and fraud-ridden program.

The Department of Homeland Security temporarily shut down the CHNV parole program in mid-July as a result of the report. The Department even admitted publicly that the CHNV program had allowed hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from these four countries to enter the United States without adequate processes in place to vet parolees or their sponsors. Nevertheless, DHS swiftly restarted it on August 29, only offering vague assurances that it has fixed the problems. Additionally, DHS has given no indication that it will investigate past fraud or move to revoke the parole of those who gained it fraudulently. ‘What’s done, is done’ is not an acceptable plan for dealing with past fraud or instilling confidence in integrity of the program moving forward.

Members of Congress, as well as the American people, deserve to know how this Cuban operative was approved to enter the country. For example, who sponsored Gonzales-Pardo for parole and was he/she vetted? Did that sponsor also sponsor other inadmissible aliens, including other Cuban operatives?

DHS has the authority to immediately revoke Gonzales-Pardo’s parole and deport him, or to detain him while the Department of Justice pursues criminal charges. Yet, to date, there is no indication that the government intends to take any action against the person accused of killing Americans over international waters. Nor does it seem that the Biden-Harris Administration has any intent of shutting down a program that repeatedly allows – arguably invites – criminals and national security threats to enter the United States. Clearly open borders are more important to the Biden-Harris Administration than the public safety and national security of the American people. These failures are just the cost of doing business.