Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, whose father was tortured and imprisoned in Cuba before fleeing to the U.S., condemned the Biden administration's announcement Tuesday that it will lift the U.S. designation of the Communist-led island nation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
It is the latest in a number of environmental, immigration, and foreign-policy decisions the Biden administration has taken in its final days before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on Monday.
"Today's decision is unacceptable on its merits," Cruz said in a news release. "The terrorism advanced by the Cuban regime has not ceased. I will work with President Trump and my colleagues to immediately reverse and limit the damage from the decision."
The Biden administration's decision reportedly is part of an effort pushed by the Catholic Church to free "a significant number of political prisoners" under an agreement with the church, including an unspecified number "before the end of the Biden administration on Jan. 20."
"Obama-Biden officials are continuing their legacy of closing out administrations with rank appeasement of the Cuban regime," Cruz said. "They push these policies both because they believe in them and to undermine the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress."
Cuba was first designated a terrorist state by the U.S. in 1982 during the Reagan administration. To normalize relations, former President Barack Obama removed the designation in 2015, but Trump put Cuba back on the list in the waning days of his first term for harboring U.S. and foreign fugitives.
The decision likely will be reversed when Trump begins his second term, especially given that Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, a former Republican senator from Florida who is of Cuban heritage, has been a proponent of sanctioning Cuba.
"These moves do incredible damage to American national security and send a message to our adversaries that they can rely on outgoing Democrat administrations — and wait out pressure from Republican administrations — to continue engaging in terrorism and other aggression against Americans," Cruz said.