Asylum unlikely for Venezuelans

QMy cousin and her husband are Venezuelans. Due to the political and economic unrest there they were forced to leave. If they manage to get to the United States, can they get asylum? M. by email

ATo get asylum, your relatives would need to show that they would be subject to persecution if returned to Venezuela. Several lawmakers have called on President Trump to grant Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelan nationals as an alternative to granting them asylum. TPS would allow them to live and work in the United States until conditions improve at home. President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has yet to address the issue.

To get asylum, your relatives must prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution in Venezuela because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group. Political unrest, even war in a country is not enough for its natives to qualify for asylum.

Many Venezuelans are hoping President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security will grant them TPS. For Venezuelans to get TPS, DHS must designate a country’s nationals as eligible because civil unrest or natural disaster makes return home risky. The Trump administration has been very restrictive in its interpretation of the TPS rules, so a grant of TPS for Venezuelans remains a long shot.

QWill my mother’s having overstayed be a problem when she applies for her green card? My mother came here on a visitor’s visa in October 2016. A Customs and Border Protection officer admitted her for one year, but she never left. I’m 21 and I just became a U.S. citizen.

AL., Newark, N.J. Tell your mother not to worry. Because she is the parent of a U.S. citizen age 21 or older and she entered legally, the law forgives her for overstaying. She can even interview here for permanent residence; the process is called adjustment of status. Assuming she can prove she won’t need government help to live, she has no criminal record and she never lied to get an immigration benefit, her green card case should go smoothly.