Trump Administration Revoking TPS for Venezuelans Sparks Outrage Among Lawmakers

The Trump Administration’s decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 500,000 Venezuelans has sparked outrage among South Florida lawmakers and activists who argue that sending exiles back to Nicolás Maduro’s regime will only worsen the ongoing humanitarian crisis, while experts argue this would increase migration.

Repatriation flights to Venezuela resumed on February 10th, raising concerns about broader U.S. policy towards Venezuela.

Many Republicans are calling for a return to the "maximum pressure" strategy that President Donald Trump (R) promoted during his first term. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) and Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Clever-Carone have voiced a similar hardline approach, but critics argue that returning to the “maximum pressure” approach would only cripple the Venezuelan economy without achieving regime change.

Doral Vice Mayor Maureen Porras, who's expressed disagreement with ending TPS, believes that the U.S. should continue to "apply pressure" while noting the complexity of the situation.

"The most recent pressure campaign was not effective in getting political change in Venezuela, but neither was the easing of sanctions," Vice Mayor Porras told The Floridian in an exclusive interview. "Regardless, we should continue to apply the pressure on Venezuela."

University of Colorado economist Francisco Rodriguez found that reinstating maximum pressure sanctions could drive 1 million more Venezuelans to flee over the next five years. His study further suggests that 4 million Venezuelans would have remained in their country had U.S. sanctions not been imposed.

Rodriguez, in a recent op-ed for The Hill, argued that returning to the strategy “would do nothing more than punish millions of Venezuelans who should not bear the burden for Maduro’s atrocities.”

“Rather than weaken Maduro,” Rodriguez wrote in the op-ed, “sanctions have strengthened his position, enabling his concentration of power and consolidation of ties with America’s adversaries. As U.S. companies have exited Venezuela, they have been replaced by actors from China, Russia and Iran, further entrenching Maduro’s regime and reducing U.S. influence in the region.”

Similarly, Venezuelan professor Luis Pedro España warns that resuming oil-related sanctions could dramatically increase poverty, echoing the conditions from 2017 to 2020, when 94% of Venezuelans lived in poverty and 2.5 million households fell into economic despair.

Florida Reps. Carlos Gimenez (R), Mario Diaz-Balart (R), Maria Elvira Salazar (R), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), and Weston Commissioner Fabio Andrade are among the locals who also disagree with ending TPS.

Rep. Gimenez has urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to ensure Venezuelans fleeing communism receive protection, emphasizing that not all Venezuelans should be stigmatized due to criminal elements like the Tren de Aragua gang. Rep. Diaz-Balart has similarly pressed Secretary Noem to prevent the forced return of Venezuelans without criminal records to a "repressive dictatorship."

"The majority of Americans agree on the need to secure our borders and to remove immigrants that are breaking the law and are burdening our systems," Vice Mayor Porras told The Floridian. "Passing the Venezuelan Adjustment Act would help fix temporary solutions like TPS by providing law abiding Venezuelans already in the U.S. a path to permanent residency," she added.