The White House on Monday issued a temporary safe haven decree that would allow thousands of Venezuelans who have fled their homeland to stay in the United States with legal status.
The program includes the Trump administration’s U.S. There has been a significant shift in policy, with President Trump trying to overthrow the Left government in Caracas despite rejecting Venezuela’s defense. His administration also secretly deported Venezuelans after hiding a cry in Congress for a safe haven for refugees.
On his final day in office, Trump ordered the removal of Venezuelans for 18 months, but did not grant them temporary status or place them in limbo.
More than one million Venezuelans have fled their country, and more than 100,000,000 people worldwide have sought refuge, according to the United Nations refugee agency, fleeing poverty, hunger, disease and President Nicolas Maduro’s brutal crackdown.
The decision, announced Monday, will be issued by executive order rather than vending through Congress and could benefit up to 320,000 people, administration officials told reporters on condition of anonymity without giving a reason.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas said in a statement that the country faces upheaval in Venezuela’s living conditions, it is unable to protect its citizens. “In times of extraordinary and temporary circumstances like this, the United States continues to support the citizens of Venezuela who are already present, as their homeland tries to emerge from the current crisis.”
Venezuelans who have been in the U.S. until Monday Physically present in, they will have 180 days to apply, pay the fee and prove their residency by bill or other documents, according to a submission from the Department of Homeland Security and officials.
This action gained praise in numerous circles.
Senator Bob Menendez (DNJ) said, “Continuing to deport Venezuelans to Maduro’s tragedy would mean telling them they are a burden on our communities, a threat to our national security, and an unwelcome guest in our country.” ” Who has long been a TPS for Venezuela. Have fought for.
“This is huge,” said Geoff Rams, a longtime Venezuelan expert at the Washington office in Latin America and a human rights group. “TPS has proven to be much more sustainable during administration.”
Ramsay and others said they hoped Biden’s announcement foreshadowed a clear, comprehensive US policy on Venezuela.
So far, the Biden administration has provided little detail on what the administration is doing differently than Trump, whose policies have neither restored democracy in Venezuela nor significantly alleviated the humanitarian crisis. “We’re still waiting to see what’s new,” Ramsay said.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States would continue to recognize opposition leader Juan Guido as Trump’s rightful president of Venezuela.
That the Biden administration has not agreed to communicate with Maduro.
Another senior administration official, briefing reporters, said the US government had been “very clear” about how the Maduro government had used “negotiation delay tactics” to contain protests and consolidate power.
Administrative officials also rejected suggestions that President Biden’s decision was a political ploy to appease South Florida, where Biden, a staunch Republican supporter of Venezuelan refugees, contributed to the state’s loss in the 2020 election.
“It’s not at all,” a party official said. “The suffering of the Venezuelan people and what is going on is well documented … and it is not Democratic or Republican.”
In several decades TPS. The program is being used in a limited fashion to grant a kind of refugee status to people whose nations have been plagued by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes in some natural American and Haiti and hurricane cases. As its name suggests, the situation is said to be temporary and critics have complained that TPS No. Many beneficiaries have morphed into permanent residents.
With this, the Trump administration is sponsoring steps to end large-scale programs to reduce legal and illegal immigration.
Venezuela had a creepy case.
When the Trump administration launched an offensive against Venezuela’s ruling regime, Venezuela’s TPS To grant the right to reside in the U.S. under – Venezuelan Republican Sen. Marco Rubio resisted the bilateral pressure – including a Venezuelan bipartisan.
When the Trump administration worked to overthrow the Venezuelan government because of the horrific mistreatment of its citizens, officials also secretly deported Venezuelans from the United States, forcing them to hide their destination and fly to Venezuelan airports in 2019 According to a report by Menendez, chairman of the Relations Committee.
Yet on the last day of Trump’s office, he issued an administrative order that he would remove Venezuelan from 18 months.
In late January, senators again asked Venezuelans to reconsider the TPS.
In 2019, the Senate blocked a similar move in the House of Representatives to Republicans. Biden said during the 2020 presidential campaign that he would support TPS for Venezuela.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, since 2014, the number of Venezuelan refugees has increased by 8,000%, mainly in the United States.
And while many Venezuelans have sought closer protection in the region, in recent years Venezuela has overtaken China as the country of origin for asylum seekers in the United States, accounting for more than 25% of all asylum applications filed with US Citizenship and Immigration. As recently as 2013, Venezuelans did not even get a place in the top 10.
Many Venezuelans still fly to the United States – especially those with more money and family in Florida, which has a large community of Venezuelans – and claim asylum in a process known as Affordable Asylum, upon arrival at or after a U.S. airport.
But a growing number have demanded security along the US-Mexico border. Mexico has also seen a dramatic increase in the number of people seeking asylum there in Venezuela and most applications have been approved.
In the United States, Venezuelans faced many Trump-era policies to restrict their ability to claim asylum. According to Syracuse University’s track database of federal immigration statistics, on average more than 50% of Venezuelan asylum claims are denied. In 2020, of the nearly 2,000 Venezuelans whose asylum claims were decided by U.S. immigration courts, only 45%, or more than 900, were rejected, leaving them at risk of deportation.
Ahead of Monday’s announcement, the Biden administration announced new TPS for any country. The designation was not pending, or the TPS for those canceled by Trump. Restoration was pending, according to a letter from M314 state and national organizations, providing TPS for 18 countries, including Venezuela.
