MIAMI (WSVN) - A bipartisan coalition of leaders and activists are standing in solidarity with Venezuelan immigrants who could lose their Temporary Protected Status in the coming weeks.
TPS is a temporary benefit that allows qualified immigrants to work and live in the United States. Following President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the status for hundred of thousands of Venezuelans, it leaves them at risk for deportation.
Local Venezuelans gathered Thursday at Miami City Hall, along with Miami-Dade Democratic leaders, to send a message to the Trump administration to reconsider the decision.
Miran Santa Ella, a TPS recipient in the United States, hopes Trump will extend her status before it is too late.
“He can’t just leave us like this. Give us our visas,” she said in Spanish.
Erika told 7News it is sad.
Some of them held signs saying “Trump has betrayed us” and “Venezuelans are not criminals.”
“We come here to build, succeed, not to hurt anyone. We come to have liberty, freedom,” said a man.
The Venezuelan immigrants hope that the Trump administration will see that they are fleeing a communist government under Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
“Let me be clear: The rhetoric and policies that vilify immigrants are having devastating real-world consequences for our families, our friends, our co-workers and our community. The fear is palpable,” said Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley.
Some Republicans, like U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., are asking the president for some assurances that Venezuelans who were previously protected under TPS won’t get deported.
“Those that were under TPS are going to have to find some other mechanism (like) asylum, etcetera. I also disagree with the notion that somehow things have gotten better in Venezuela. They haven’t gotten better, and that was one of the premises as to why he took TPS away,” he said.
Last week, the City of Miami passed a resolution proposed by City Commissioner Damian Pardo, urging the Trump administration to continue TPS.
If the president does not resume TPS, it will end in early April.
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