Díaz-Balart’s and Giménez’s Statement on Immigration Applications

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26) and Carlos A. Giménez (FL-28) released the following joint statement regarding the recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to halt immigration applications:

“The Biden Administration’s reckless abandonment of border security and its systematic failure to properly vet nearly 10 million people were a betrayal of national safety and a direct threat to American lives. We condemned it unequivocally from the start.

For four years, our urgent warnings, both in writing and in person, about the consequences of the Biden Administration’s grotesquely irresponsible open-border policies and non-existent vetting were ignored. Today, we are unfortunately dealing with the consequences.

The chaos that unfolded at our southern border allowed over 300 known terrorists to enter the country, enabled hostile foreign operatives–including Cuban regime pilot Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, recently indicted for immigration fraud–and led to the preventable murders of Americans in their own communities. The tragic deaths of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and Texas 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, the foiled Election Day 2024 terrorist plot by Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, and the murder of a U.S. National Guard soldier in our nation’s capital by another Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, are not isolated incidents—they are direct consequences of Biden’s incompetence and failed leadership. Criminals applied for and exploited U.S. immigration privileges under an administration that simply stopped enforcing the rule of law.

President Trump inherited a number of problems, including a broken immigration system made worse by the Biden Administration. President Trump is protecting national security by restoring order, enforcing the rule of law, and strengthening vetting. That leadership is saving American lives.

We remain fully committed to permanently fixing our immigration system once and for all. We also hope this process is thorough and done quickly so that individuals with legitimate asylum claims have the opportunity to have their cases adjudicated expeditiously, something that did not happen under the Biden Administration.”

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