Protections Extended for Venezuelans in U.S.

In an issue that drew heavy attention from Florida lawmakers, the Biden administration on Monday extended temporary protected status for Venezuelans in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security announced the immigration protections would remain in place through March 2024 for about 340,000 Venezuelans who had started residing in the U.S. before March 8, 2021.

The protections were due to run out in September, and the federal government had until Monday to act on the extension. State Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat running for Congress, described the extension as providing “a candle of hope” for people who “fled a nation that has been led down a path of decay.” Taddeo was one of 44 state legislators who signed a letter to Biden last week calling for the continued protection of displaced Venezuelans. Democratic gubernatorial candidates Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried also made statements last week calling for an extension of the protected status.

In a statement announcing the extension, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “We will continue to work with our international partners to address the challenges of regional migration while ensuring our borders remain secure.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was among lawmakers who wanted the federal government to expand the protection to Venezuelans who continue to flee the Maduro regime. “While I’m pleased about this essential extension, I strongly urge the president to offer that same refuge to Venezuelans who arrived after that same date (March 8, 2021), because nothing has changed in Venezuela, and in fact, has only gotten worse,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement Monday.

“They too live with the same fear of being forced to return to Maduro’s brutal and repressive state, and their safety is just as vital as we all work to restore democracy and peace to Venezuela.” In March, 15 members of Florida’s congressional delegation, representing both parties, urged Biden and Mayorkas to extend and redesignate temporary protected status for Venezuelans because of the “political instability caused by Maduro’s authoritarian regime.”