WASHINGTON, May 22 – Two senior House Democrats sent a letter Friday demanding Secretary of State Marco Rubio provide answers about whether his top aide assisted in fast-tracking a visa that enabled a fugitive former Polish Cabinet official to escape to America from Hungary, dodging Poland’s extradition efforts.
“These events and decisions constitute a massive abuse of power and disregard for the legal immigration processes of the United States,” Representatives Gregory Meeks and James Raskin stated in their letter to Rubio, which Reuters obtained.
Both lawmakers hold ranking Democratic positions on the House foreign relations and judiciary panels.
The visa approval amounts to “an unprecedented level of interference in the domestic politics and judicial systems of two longstanding U.S. treaty allies,” the representatives stated, referencing Poland and Hungary, which are both NATO partners.
The Democrats’ correspondence referenced a Monday Reuters investigation revealing that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau instructed high-ranking State Department personnel to process and fast-track a U.S. visa for former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
Polish authorities seek Ziobro on 26 criminal counts primarily connected to his purported mishandling of funds from a crime victims program. Ziobro maintains his innocence, claiming he faces a politically driven prosecution by Poland’s current pro-European Union governing alliance.
Neither the State Department nor White House provided immediate responses to comment requests.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s administration states it plans to prosecute Ziobro and that legal officials have drafted an extradition petition to the United States.
Ziobro escaped to Hungary in January and obtained refuge under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Warsaw anticipated that Orban’s electoral loss to pro-EU challenger Peter Magyar in April would result in Ziobro’s return to Poland. Magyar had pledged to extradite him immediately upon taking office.
However, Landau instructed senior personnel within the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau in Washington to direct the U.S. embassy in Budapest to provide Ziobro with a visa, according to three sources, with one indicating it was a journalist visa.
Ziobro obtained his visa before Magyar’s May 9 inauguration and, per Polish prosecutors, journeyed to Italy before reaching the U.S. using a refugee document since his Polish passport had been canceled.
In their correspondence, Meeks and Raskin highlighted that Ziobro could face up to 25 years imprisonment if found guilty on his charges, which include accusations he utilized crime victims compensation money to purchase surveillance software for targeting political opponents.
The legislators warned that approving Ziobro’s visa risked “invite a significant diplomatic crisis” with Poland. They insisted the Trump administration honor any extradition demands from Warsaw.
They requested Rubio provide written responses to questions regarding the matter and conduct an in-person briefing for their committees by June 21.
Their inquiries included whether U.S. President Donald Trump or his staff participated in authorizing Ziobro’s visa and the legal basis for its approval.
The duo also requested all documentation and correspondence involving Landau, the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the U.S. embassies in Warsaw and Budapest, and any materials concerning potential involvement by Tom Rose, the U.S. ambassador to Poland.
