Vanessa Cárdenas: “We applaud the Biden administration … those who have fled Venezuela don’t want handouts or special treatment – instead they want to work and support themselves and contribute more fully to their communities.”
Washington, DC – Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News reports tonight that the Biden Administration intends to redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, extending new protections and opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already residing in the U.S. to stabilize their lives by working and supporting themselves. As CBS News reports:
“By redesignating Venezuela’s TPS program, the U.S. will be rendering the record number of Venezuelans who have reached the U.S. over the past two years eligible for the status. Venezuelans who reach the U.S. after the announcement will not qualify for TPS … the announcement will mostly benefit the more than 400,000 Venezuelan migrants who have trekked to the southern border over the past two-and-a-half years as part of a massive exodus from the South American country. In recent years, more than seven million Venezuelans have fled economic calamity and authoritarian rule, with most of them resettling in other South American nations, such as Colombia, marking the largest refugee crisis ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.”
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“We applaud the Biden administration for taking this needed step to expand new opportunities and protections to Venezuelans already in the U.S. Like other immigrants and asylum seekers, those who have fled Venezuela don’t want handouts or special treatment – instead, they want to work and support themselves and contribute more fully to their communities.
TPS redesignation for Venezuelans not only will help those families directly affected by the policy, but will also benefit local, state, and the national economy, while lessening the strains faced by local communities that are home to recent arrivals.
Tonight’s news also represents an important recognition that while Congress continues to abdicate its responsibilities to modernize our broken immigration system – largely due to Republicans who would rather point to a crisis than help advance solutions – President Biden has the power under current statute to examine and redesignate – or designate for the first time – TPS to countries where returning deportees is not in the U.S. national interest.
We thank the countless community members, advocates, and elected officials whose tireless advocacy helped push for this important step forward and we thank President Biden for recognizing that using his power to improve lives, strengthen the economy and deliver real solutions is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.”
