Florida Congress asks Biden administration to grant Nicaraguans protected status
A bipartisan group of Florida members of Congress called on the Biden administration Friday to “redesignate and extend” Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian protection that shields people from deportation, to eligible Nicaraguan already residing in the United States.
“We strongly urge you ... to protect tens of thousands of Nicaraguan men, women, and children who would face great risk to their safety should they return to Nicaragua at this time,” a letter from the representatives to President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
They cited Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s violent crackdown of political opposition in recent years and Nicaragua’s precarious social, political and economic circumstances.
“The combined effect of the Ortega regime’s socio-political oppression, failed response to the COVID pandemic, and backto-back hurricanes in early 2020 crippled economic opportunity of the already second-poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere,” the letter states.
The development comes days after the Department of Homeland Security extended Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status another 18 months for those already eligible, around 343,000 people.
Rep. Charlie Crist, who is running for Florida governor, spearheaded the letter. He recently visited Miami to advocate for the redesignation and extension of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, meeting with activists from both nations.
South Florida Reps. Frederica Wilson, Sheila Cherfilus-mccormick, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Maria Elvira Salazar, all signed the letter. So did Orlando-area members of Congress Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, as well as Tampa legislator Kathy Castor. The same group had signed a recent letter, led by Soto asking Biden and Mayorkas to redesignate Venezuela, which would have made more people from the South American nation eligible for TPS, and which did not occur.
The United States first offered TPS for Nicaraguans after 1998 Hurricane Mitch devastated the country and killed more than 10,000 people across Central America.
In December 2017, the Trump administration moved to end Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua after deeming the protection was no longer warranted.