Almost half a million Venezuelans in the United States will now be eligible for protection from deportation and will be able to get work authorizations, after the Biden administration expanded immigration benefits for Venezuela, a development which public officials, activists, and service providers in South Florida and across the nation have repeatedly requested from the federal government.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday night that it would extend Temporary Protected Status — a longstanding program that allows people from countries in turmoil who are already here to temporarily live and work in the United States — for the South American country, which has faced a social, political, and economic crises in recent years that has pushed over seven million people to flee.
There are already more than 242,000 recipients under Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status, according to the agency. Homeland Security estimates that another 472,000 additional Venezuelans will benefit from the announcement, a huge expansion of the program as more Venezuelans have made their way to the United States in recent years. It also extended the benefits for current recipients for another year and a half.
To qualify for the protections, new recipients must have arrived prior to July 31, 2023, and have been continuously been in the United States. The previous cut off date for Temporary Protected Status was March 9, 2021. That means that eligible Venezuelans who have come to the United States after that, but before the new date, are now eligible for the program.
“Temporary protected status provides individuals already present in the United States with protection from removal when the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, “That is the situation that Venezuelans who arrived on or before July 31 find themselves in.”
Many recently arrived Venezuelans have made their way to Miami-Dade County, home to the largest group of Venezuelan immigrants in the United States. Nearly 133,000 Venezuelans live in the county, according to Census Bureau estimates from 2022. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who along with South Florida immigration rights activists has called for a TPS expansion for Venezuela and other countries, welcomed the announcement.
“South Florida has long been a beacon of hope for hundreds of thousands of families who escape tyranny, oppression, warfare, and human rights violations. Many Miami-Dade County residents – including Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians – have received TPS and as a result, have made invaluable contributions to both our community and economy,” she said in a statement. “I commend the Biden administration for taking these necessary steps which will allow hundreds of thousands of families – who arrived fleeing dictatorship and seeking freedom and opportunity – to build new lives and contribute to our community.”
Florida has the largest number of Temporary Protected Status recipients among all states, according to a Congressional Research Service report from July, after the population of beneficiaries grew from 65,100 recipients to 197,485 recipients between February 2022 and March 2023. TPS recipients from Venezuela fueled two-thirds of the growth, according to the report.
Homeland Security also simultaneously announced it would allocate more staff to process work permits for immigrants paroled into the U.S., who can apply immediately for authorization compared to asylum seekers, who must wait six months. The agency also said it would make employment authorizations valid for five years for refugees and people applying for asylum, adjustment of status or deportation cancellations.
“This is anticipated to also reduce the associated workload and processing times, which will allow [immigration authorities] to concentrate efforts on initial work authorization caseload,” said the agency.
Immigration and civil rights activists, legal-services providers and public officials across the nation have been calling on the Biden administration to expedite the speed at which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services process work permit applications. Lawyers in South Florida have told the Miami Herald that work approvals have been slow to come under Biden, forcing recent arrivals to work illegally or not at all while they await for the employment authorizations.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has described the wave of migrants coming as a “humanitarian crisis” overwhelming the city’s shelter and social services, thanked President Biden following Wednesday’s announcement. More than 116,000 migrants have come to New York since last spring, according to the mayor. The Democrat, along with top New York officials and the state’s congressional delegation, has for months been calling on the Biden administration to speed up work permits and redesignate TPS for Venezuela.
“I look forward to continued work with our state and federal partners to deliver relief for asylum seekers and longtime New Yorkers with a national decompression strategy and expedited work authorizations so those entering our city and our country can provide for themselves and finally have a shot at living out the American Dream,” Adams said in a statement.
Homeland Security also said Wednesday it will increase its capacity for civil immigration detention, directing more military personnel to the southwest border in collaboration with the Department of Defense, speeding up its deportation of families who can’t establish a legal basis to be in the U.S., and deporting non-Mexicans to Mexico through agreements with the neighboring country.
The number of Venezuelans coming to the United States has sharply increased since 2021. U.S. Customs and Border Protection registered over 48,000 encounters with Venezuelan nationals at the U.S.-Mexico during that fiscal year, according to federal data. That number had gone up to 187,716 by fiscal year 2022. So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, border authorities recorded 168,047 encounters with Venezuelan nationals through July 31 of this year.
President Joe Biden first designated Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status in March 2021. He also created parole processes for people in Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to come live and work in the United States for two years if they have a financial sponsor in the United States, pass medical and background checks and buy their own plane tickets.
The Biden administration has not said what will happen to the parole program after two years. However, eligible Venezuelans who came before July 31 of this year will be able to apply for Temporary Protected Status.
José Hernández, former representative of the Venezuelan opposition at the Organization of American States, said he was “very grateful to the United States and the Biden administration for the welcome given to Venezuelans.” But he said he regretted the behaviors of some recently arrived Venezuelans in places like New York, alluding to reports of violent encounters with police, aggressive behavior towards random pedestrians, and littering.
“That hurts all of us instead of helping us to obtain the help and benefits that we need. We are a hard-working community, a community that creates,” he said. “A community that has come here seeking a new horizon, not people seeking to replicate here the lawlessness prevalent in Venezuela.”
John de la Vega, a Caracas-born Miami-based immigration attorney with several Venezuelan clients, called the expansion a “very positive” development.
“This is going to help thousands of Venezuelans immersed in court proceedings, facing deportation proceedings, appealing asylum or facing final deportation,” he said. “They will be protected.”
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