South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
ORIGINAL WORK OF ART
Artist Ana Andras presents Remy Genesis with a portrait that she drew on the spot during the 2021 art13 event in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.
SUNRISE — Two years of uncertainty and anxiety are almost over for Glenys Solorzano’s family with the announcement that Temporary Protected Status is being extended to Venezuelans across the U.S.
More than 320,000 Venezuelans have left the turmoil in their homeland including Glenys, her husband, and two adult sons who lived in Caracas.
“We fled the government there and the whole family had one suitcase,” she said, with a trembling voice. “Now that suitcase is open [like a] window of opportunity and things are beginning to happen and [I’m] very emotional about it, but very happy.”
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a program that allows people to legally work and live in the U.S. often after a natural disaster or political upheaval in their home countries.
The Biden administration’s decision got bipartisan backing from congressional Democrats and Republicans from Florida.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, delivered the news to dozens of Venezuelans rallying outside the Café Canela in Sunrise on Saturday.
“They [will] have certainty, refuge and the ability to be safe and work here in the United States until we can make sure that Venezuela returns to a democratic government and a free society,” she said.
Tables full of TPS literature manned by immigration attorneys and their assistants were set up outside the restaurant which serves as a cultural hub for the large Venezuelan community in Weston.
“The possibility to have a work permit in the U.S. gives the [local] community a chance to help our people in Venezuela,” said Maria Antonietta Diaz, president and founder of the Venezuelan American Alliance.
TPS application forms
can be found at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. If applicants meet the requirements, they can submit the form.
Applicants can also contact the Broward office of Wasserman Schutz at 954-845-1179 or through her website at wassermanschultz.house.
gov to avoid being scammed by people offering to submit forms on behalf of the applicants for a fee.