“Putting a foot back in Venezuela means I will be taken to jail, tortured, and potentially killed”
Despite fostering further instability in Venezuela by carrying out an “illegal military operation” that deposed Nicolás Maduro and has left in its deadly wake major questions about the Latin American nation’s future governance, the U.S. is so far refusing to reinstate temporary protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants who have had permission to live and work in the U.S. but may now fear being returned to continued chaos and instability.
The Department of Homeland Security “on Sunday defended the administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, despite concerns about chaos unfolding in their home country following Nicolás Maduro’s capture,” Axios reported. During an interview with Fox News, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that “Venezuela today is more free than it was yesterday,” and that “every individual that was under TPS has the opportunity to apply for refugee status.”
But Juan Escalante, an immigrant rights advocate who was born in Venezuela and fled to the U.S. following the rise of Hugo Chavez, called this a “bait-and-switch” tactic that may offer no relief to the approximately 600,000 Venezuelan nationals who have been protected by TPS. That’s because only individuals who are currently outside the U.S. can apply for refugee status, which the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged following Noem’s remarks, NOTUS reported. “Applicants are only eligible for refugee status prior to entering the country,” a spokesperson said.
However, the U.S. has also slashed refugee admissions to a record-low and left the few remaining slots to white South Africans who’ve been singled out for special treatment. While the vetting process for refugees can take up to 36 months, the first Afrikaner arrivals deplaned “on a chartered flight in May, a remarkably quick turnaround given that families from other nations often wait years for their chance to be vetted and brought to the United States,” The New York Times reported in October.
Nor is the asylum system a viable option for Venezuelan TPS holders looking for legal pathways to remain in the U.S. “Venezuelans are currently limited from asylum as well,” NOTUS continued. “U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services has put on hold all applications for legal status for immigrants from 39 countries, including Venezuela.”
Sebastian, a Venezuelan immigrant and TPS holder who asked to be identified by his first name only, told NPR that he initially welcomed the news of Maduro’s removal from power. But he said his relief quickly turned to worry when he heard about U.S. plans to work with Maduro’s right-hand person and interim president, NPR said. Sebastian, an architect who calls Miami home, “said he feels the danger is still as present in Venezuela.”
“The Trump administration has been saying for a year the conditions have changed for good in Venezuela,” Sebastian said. “But I would ask, if the U.S. has to extract a man who took over the government, how am I supposed to believe that the situation in Venezuela is good? It’s contradictory, I see the opposite — the situation is worse.” Luis Falcón, another immigrant who at one time worked as a Venezuelan presidential honor guard but fled the country after becoming critical of the country’s leadership, similarly feels unsafe to return.
In Philadelphia, Noem’s comments only fueled confusion among Venezuelan community members, 6abc Action News reported. “Community leaders said the secretary’s statement led some Venezuelans to believe they could apply for refugee status while their country’s future remains in question. ‘That was a path of hope for many people. There are many Venezuelans now in limbo,’ said Emilio Buitrago, co-founder of Casa de Venezuela.”
“Those who hoped that no traces of the regime would remain have been confronted with the fact that Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as acting president on Monday,” as America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings noted in her latest column. “In other words, Maduro’s regime is still in place.”
Rather than acknowledging that the conditions that merited the implementation of Venezuelan TPS in the first place have not changed – in fact, explosions and gunfire have been reported in Caracas since the U.S. incursion – the administration’s overall message has been that these contributors and neighbors simply just get out and “go home.”
“The great news for those who are here from Venezuela on temporary protected status is that now they can go home with hope for their country — a country that they love — that there is going to be peace, prosperity and stability,” said the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at Homeland Security. “USCIS encourages all Venezuelans unlawfully in the U.S. to use the CBP Home app for help with a safe and orderly return to their country,” said an agency spokesperson.
“Secretary Noem ended Temporary Protected Status for more than 500,000 Venezuelans and now they can go home to a country that they love,” stated a social media post from Homeland Security.
TPS has historically been a humanitarian tool allowing individuals who can’t return to their home countries due to extraordinary circumstances, such as armed conflict or civil war, to live and work in the U.S. But after taking power last year, “Trump administration officials moved to end TPS protection for Venezuelans, a decision the Supreme Court has allowed to stand for now as litigation continues,” The NY Times reported.
“Washington, D.C., will rapidly find itself in a tough spot if credible plans do not materialize for Venezuela, the country, and Venezuelan immigrants in the United States,” Escalante continued in his piece. “A reminder that the Trump Administration, while being credited with Maduro’s downfall, is the same administration that sent Venezuelan men fleeing Maduro’s Venezuela to a gulag in El Salvador.” In her column, Hastings wrote that “the fact is that throughout this process, little has been said about restoring democracy or protecting human rights. Rather, the talk has been about seizing Venezuelan oil and portraying Venezuela as the main exporter of drugs to the United States, even though it is not. A recent United Nations report ranks Venezuela as a marginal country on the drug trafficking route.”
For former presidential palace guard Falcón, “returning now is impossible,” NPR continued. “Putting a foot back in Venezuela means I will be taken to jail, tortured, and potentially killed,” he said.
