Newly elected Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins on Saturday called on the Trump administration to restore Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. in the wake of the uncertainty of Venezuela’s future after the U.S. removed Nicolás Maduro from power.
“The elimination of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans earlier this year was reckless, dangerous, and wrong,” Higgins said Saturday in a statement. “The instability unfolding in Venezuela today makes it even clearer that the country remains unsafe for people to return. No one should be forced back into chaos and uncertainty.”
“[Venezuelans] have built lives here, contributed to our community, and deserve the security to remain while their homeland regains stability. This is not just a matter of policy — ait is a matter of basic human dignity and safety,” she said.
“Miami has always been a beacon of hope for those fleeing oppression,” she said. “We will continue to stand with our Venezuelan community, today and in the days ahead.”
Tens of thousands of Venezuelan TPS holders live in South Florida.
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The Trump administration ended TPS and other temporary immigration programs that together allowed more than 700,000 Venezuelans to live and work legally in the U.S, putting them at risk of deportation. Venezuelans were first granted TPS under President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration has since deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, claiming that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and were “invading” the U.S. Lawyers and advocates for Venezuelan TPS holders have challenged the administration's actions in federal court.
In October, the Supreme Court sided with the administration to end TPS — at least temporarily. The case remains pending.
Millions of Venezuelans had been forced to leave their country in the last decade due to its prolonged economic and political instability. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates more than 7.7 million have left since 2014 in the largest exodus in Latin America in recent history. Most have settled in the Americas, and more than 1 million came to the U.S.
TPS has allowed Venezuelans refuge from their home country's economic turmoil and humanitarian crisis, granting them permission to live and work legally in the U.S.
TPS gives migrants from countries torn by disaster or political violence temporary but renewable protection from deportation. It is granted in 18-month increments by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The United States on Saturday captured Venezuela's Maduro and flew him out of the country in an extraordinary nighttime operation that was accompanied by a flurry of strikes following months of escalating Trump administration pressure on the oil-rich South American nation.
The U.S. is now deciding next steps for Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Saturday on Fox News, adding, “We’ll be involved in it very much.”
