State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith introduces a bipartisan measure to protect refugees, urging the president and Congress to allow Venezuelans to be given sanctuary in the U.S. amid the country’s political crisis.
State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith introduced a bipartisan measure Friday urging President Trump and Congress to allow Venezuelans to be given sanctuary in the U.S. amid the political crisis in their homeland.
“As millions of Venezuelans continue to flee Maduro’s brutal dictatorship, Congress and the President must take action to protect those seeking sanctuary in the United States,” Smith said in a statement.
The measure, filed by Smith, D-Orlando, and state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, is the latest bipartisan push to extend Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to Venezuelan immigrants — of which there are an estimated 147,000 in Florida alone.
“Granting TPS for those in Florida and around the country who cannot safely return home to Venezuela under these extreme conditions is simply the right thing to do,” Smith said.
“What the people of Venezuela have endured and continue enduring at the hands of an oppressive and tyrannical regime is heartwrenching,” Flores said. “Granting Venezuelans temporary protected status will shield them from deportation during a time when their homeland is in utmost turmoil.”
At the Congressional level, Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has filed a bill to give Venezuelans TPS status, while Democratic U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, DKissimmee, joined with U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, RMiami, to introduce similar legislation in the House.
Venezuelan refugees would be protected from deportation and could obtain a work permit with TPS status, Soto and other House Democrats said at a news conference Monday.
The Trump administration has denied asylum visas to nearly half of the Venezuelans who sought refuge in the United States, with nearly 72,800 seeking protection in 2018 alone. The number of applications has increased 18.5 percent since 2014.