Three Republican congressional members from South Florida pledged Wednesday to "do everything possible" to protect Venezuelans who were granted temporary U.S. residency under the former Biden administration.
The pledge by U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos A. Giménez and María Elvira Salazar — all from Miami, home to the country's largest Venezuelan community — came the same day that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration had revoked a decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months.
Noem signed a notice reversing a move by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.
The change is effective immediately and comes amid a slew of actions as the Trump administration works to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are on Temporary Protected Status, which meant that they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months," Noem told “Fox and Friends.” “We stopped that.”
READ MORE: Trump officials revoke Biden’s extension of protections for Venezuelans
The South Florida lawmakers did not criticize the Trump administration's action, but vowed to advocate for Venezuelans, saying their homeland is "still not safe for many to return."
"The regime of [President] Nicolás Maduro is one of the world’s most repressive dictatorships, and its mounting failures have led to one of the largest migration crises in history, with millions of Venezuelans being forced to flee the brutal and oppressive regime," said the lawmakers in a statement.
"As a result, many Venezuelans have arrived in our country and have integrated into our communities, respecting our laws and contributing to the prosperity of our great country," they said.
"The Venezuelan people have endured repression, corruption, and human rights abuses for far too long in Venezuela, and it is still not safe for many to return," the lawmakers said. "We will continue to do everything possible to ensure that those seeking freedom from persecution and oppression are protected."
Nearly 8 million have fled Venezuela
More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their home country since 2013, when its economy unraveled and Maduro took office. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic, migrants increasingly set their sights on the U.S.
Venezuelans’ desire for better living conditions and their rejection of Maduro and his policies are expected to keep pushing people to emigrate.
Earlier this month, Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost July’s election by a two-to-one margin.
Under the Biden administration TPS extension, protections for Venezuelans were extended until October 2026. That now reverts to two separate designations — one that expires this April and one in September.
Venezuelans would lose their ability to work in the U.S. and be at risk of being deported.
What's next for TPS recipients?
The DHS Secretary has until Saturday to decide what to do about the group whose protections expire in April and until July 12 for those whose protections expire in September. If she does nothing, the protections automatically extend for another six months.
The U.S. doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, limiting deportation options.
Federal regulations allow the extensions to be terminated early, though that’s rarely been done, and groups sued when Trump took steps to end the protections during his first term.
The National TPS Alliance, an advocacy group, said Wednesday that it is prepared to challenge this decision in court.
Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in increments of up to 18 months at a time.
About 1 million immigrants from 17 countries are protected by TPS, including people from Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon. Venezuelans are one of the largest beneficiaries.
The TPS designation gives people legal authority to be in the country but doesn’t provide a long-term path to citizenship. They are reliant on the government renewing their status when it expires. Critics have said that over time, the renewal of the protection status becomes automatic, regardless of what is happening in the person’s home country.
