| WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today said that the Bush
Administration is misplacing priorities by devoting “additional resources
to enforcing the Cuba travel ban, instead of homeland security.”
Schakowsky expressed her concern that the Bush Administration’s efforts
to bolster its campaign against the Cuban Government “may actually be
jeopardizing U.S. national security.”
Below
is Schakowsky’s letter to President Bush:
October
15, 2003
The
Honorable George W. Bush
President
of the United States of America
1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington,
DC 20500
Dear
Mr. President:
I
am writing in response to your White House Rose Garden speech on Cuba on
October 10, 2003. I am concerned that, in an effort to bolster your
campaign against the Cuban Government, you may actually be jeopardizing
U.S. national security.
At
a time when only a small fraction of all cargo containers entering U.S.
ports are searched for dangerous cargo and when nearly every state and
municipality in the nation is struggling to meet new, post-9/11 homeland
security needs, your decision to devote additional resources to enforcing
the Cuba travel ban, instead of homeland security, seems to me to be a
misplacement of priorities.
Your
announcement that you have “…instructed the Department of Homeland Security
to increase inspections of travelers and shipments to and from Cuba,” and
to “…target those who travel to Cuba illegally through third countries”
makes me believe that you do not share my concern that there are significant,
credible threats posed to our nation by the lack of security at our ports
and the unmet homeland security needs so many of our hometowns are now
struggling to address. I share the hopes of many that Cuba will one
day soon be a country where the public enjoys the same freedoms as the
American public. I share that hope for the people of many nations,
including many with whom the United States currently has open relations.
Instead
of hurrying a political transition in Cuba, I believe the net result of
your new policy announcement will be the confiscation of more Cuban Cigars
while, other, critical national security vulnerabilities will continue
to lack the level of attention and resources they warrant from your Administration.
Instead of devoting new and additional resources to cracking down on those
who wish to travel to Cuba, I urge you to first guarantee to the American
public that you are doing everything possible to protect them from terrorism.
I believe that is a guarantee you can not truthfully make today.
Again,
I urge you to devote the necessary resources to U.S. Homeland Security
before providing additional resources to your campaign against the Cuban
government. I look forward to your prompt reply.
Sincerely,
Jan
Schakowsky
Member
of Congress |
