¡HOLA! FROM ‘VILLA DALLAS’
Venezuelans build lives, town in Tex.
Thousands of Venezuelan asylum-seekers have come to the United States this year, risking their lives, often making arduous monthslong journeys by foot and spending their entire life savings just to have a shot at sanctuary.
Many get turned away at the border, but those who make it through are granted temporary status to stay in the country and have started to forge a new life. In one corner of Dallas, many of the migrants have banded together and formed their own community, which they call “Villa Dallas.”
The name comes from the Venezuelans who arrived in Texas around 2019 from a village called Villa Del Rosario, near the city of Maracaibo, and settled in and around the Oaks of North Dallas apartment complex.
“They were the first to arrive,” Sinia Gonzalez, who runs a Venezuelan restaurant, told The Post. “From there, word kept spreading. One person would bring a friend and that friend would bring another and it kept growing.”
It’s estimated that 18,000 Venezuelans now call the Dallas-Fort Worth area home. Unlike the wellknown and established Venezuelan communities in Miami and Houston, the vast majority of Venezuelans in Dallas have arrived in the past two years, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Since 2015, some 7 million people have left Venezuela, escaping the socialist regime of Nicholas Maduro, according to the United Nations. Initially, many fanned out across South American countries, thinking they would soon be able to go home. However, as conditions have continued to deteriorate, Venezuelans started heading to the US. The UN calls it the “second-largest external displacement crisis in the world.”
Peaceful integration
Villa Dallas now spills into the neighboring cities of Carrollton and Addison — suburbs of Dallas and have started to integrate peacefully. The Dallas Police Department told The Post crime there is lower than normal and many businesses in the area have sprung up selling such Venezuelan food staples as arepas and pastellitos.
Gonzalez established her arepa restaurant there and has seen an 80% increase in business since it opened three years ago.
Most of the newly arrived Venezuelans have applications for asylum pending. They can travel, but they must check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and attend federal court hearings. During the yearslong process, some get work permits. Others network.
“We have groups on WhatsApp and Facebook where we support each other,” explained Gonzalez. “This Venezuelans sews, this one makes birthday cakes, this person can install floors. We hire each other. That’s how we survive until we can get a work permit.”
Before this recent wave, there wasn’t a Venezuelan community in Texas’ largest metro area, where Mexican culture dominates. The strong economy and low cost of living has drawn them.
In October, President Biden announced a humanitarian program. To qualify for a temporary visa, Venezuelans must have a sponsor in the US, no criminal record and cannot cross the border illegally. Those approved have permission to work. Biden also expanded Title 42, a pandemic health policy, to expel Venezuelans who cross into the country illegally.
Dallas’ Venezuelans say they’re making enough money to support themselves and to send money to their families still in Venezuela.
“We have been accepted here because Dallas is such a diverse place,” Gonzalez said. “In our house, we fly the Texas flag.”