Dems: Give Venezuelans protected status
hours before President Donald Trump was to discuss the crisis in Venezuela with South Florida exiles from that country, four local Democratic Congressional representatives said he shouldn’t visit the region without a plan to grant protected status to Venezuelans.
“The president should have nothing to do in South Florida if he does not plan to extend a TPS for Venezuelans,” said U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, who challenged Trump not to come to Florida without solutions.
“Florida is the home of many Venezuelans facing deportation, and it is very important that the TPS be granted, “she said. “We challenge the president not to come to Florida without announcing the extension of the [Temporary Protected Status]. It is very important to protect the Venezuelans who are already here and in our community.”
With the TPS, Venezuelans who are without documents would be protected from deportation and could obtain a work permit.
The Trump administration has denied asylum visas to nearly half of Venezuelans seeking refuge in the United States, and this number will continue to rise due to Trump’s antiimmigrant stance, the congress members said.
“We have an illegitimate president in Venezuela who is killing his people and taking away their civil rights and who has deJust stroyed a successful economy,” U.S. Rep. Darren Soto warned. “There is an exile of three million Venezuelans outside that country and 147,000 Venezuelans living in Florida.”
Shalala, Soto, and U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Mucarsel Powell said at the news conference they hoped that their statements, like all the pressure exerted in terms of pushing humanitarian aid into the country, will not become a political theater “just to win points in the elections.”
The congress members said the administration has delayed more than 70,000 applications of political asylum, and they have presented a bill to automatically grant TPS to the thousands of Venezuelans who arrived in the country after of the recent “illegal” elections.
Mucarsel Powell said the pressure on humanitarian aid only shifts the focus to the humanitarian aid needed by Venezuelans today in Florida.
“This should not be used as a political weapon by either [Nicolas] Maduro or the Republicans,” she said. “We ask the Trump administration to grant the TPS to Venezuelans. It means nothing to say that the Maduro regime is illegitimate and at the same time deport the Venezuelans to that country.”
Deutch said that this is an opportunity for the U.S. to support human rights, but also to grant refuge for those who flew abroad for political asylum.
“There are 150,000 Venezuelans in the U.S. facing deportation. They have denied almost half of the asylums. This is not right and this is not what we are as Americans,” he said.
“I am very proud of what Venezuelans do in South Florida to mobilize,” he added.
Venezuela is mired in the biggest political and economic crisis in its history with a seven-digit hyperinflation and a severe recession.
The shortage of food and medicine, among other goods, has generated a massive migration of Venezuelans that the United Nations estimates at least 3 million people.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, D-Fla., reported on Sunday about his visit with Republican U.S. Rep. Mario DíazBalart to the facilities at the border where medical supplies and food are collected that are expected to be moved to Venezuela, and warned the Venezuelan military that would commit a “crime against humanity” if they comply with Maduro’s orders and prevent their entry.
The Venezuelan authorities have blocked a border bridge with Colombia so that the aid does not enter the country.
Meanwhile, the hopes of the opposition and millions of Venezuelans around the world are placed in the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president of Venezuela on Jan. 23. More than 50 countries have backed the opposition leader.
Guaidó has for called another march throughout Venezuela on Saturday to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid.