With TPS expansion, almost half a million Venezuelans in the U.S. are now eligible

Almost half a million Venezuelans will now be eligible for protection from deportation and will be able to get work authorizations, after the Biden administration expanded Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela, amid calls from public officials, activists, and service providers in South Florida and across the U.S. asking the federal government to amplify the benefits.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday night that it would redesignate and extend TPS — a longstanding program that allows people already in the U.S. from countries in turmoil to temporarily live and work here — for the South American country, where more than 7 million people have fled because of ongoing social, political, and economic crises.

There are already more than 242,000 recipients under Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status, according to DHS. The agency estimates that another 472,000 additional people will now benefit from the huge expansion, which comes as more Venezuelans have arrived in the United States in the past three years. It also kept the benefits for current recipients for another year and a half.

To qualify for the protections, new recipients must have arrived prior to July 31, 2023, and have been continuously in the U.S.. The previous designation date for TPS was March 9, 2021. That means that eligible Venezuelans who have arrived after that, but before the new date, are now eligible.

“Temporary Protected Status provides individuals already present in the United States with protection from removal when the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, “That is the situation that Venezuelans who arrived on or before July 31 find themselves in.”

Miami-Dade County, which has the largest population of Venezuelan immigrants nationwide, has been a key destination