MIAMI — U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar asked the head of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday evening to stop the deportations of Cubans in immigration custody whose information the federal government accidentally published online.
“The United States cannot continue to be a beacon of freedom if we put those fleeing persecution and violence at risk,’‘ Salazar, a Miami Republican, wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The correspondence follows a Nov. 28 incident in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement accidentally uploaded a spreadsheet to its web page that included the personal details of more than 6,000 migrants seeking protection in the United States. U.S. officials then told the Cuban government it would delay the deportations back to the island because of the leak — indirectly confirming to Havana that the potential Cuban deportees sought to flee persecution or torture.
