LI immigrant advocate: Maduro operation at odds with TPS elimination for Venezuelans
Melanie Creps, executive director of the nonprofit Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead and Brentwood, said the Trump administration’s move last year to cut temporary protected status to Venezuelans in the U.S. runs at odds with the military’s latest actions.
Trump last year said life in Venezuela “has drastically improved,” spurring a policy change that threatened deportations for 600,000 Venezuelans living in the country, Newsday previously reported.
Temporary protected status, part of a program established by Congress in 1990, allows noncitizens to live and work in the U.S. The designation is granted to people from countries designated by the Department of Homeland Security as unsafe.
“Within the first month of them being in office, they ended TPS for Venezuelans claiming that country didn’t need that designation anymore, which implies that it’s stable,” Creps said in a phone interview. “And now, less than a year later, obviously this action proves that they don’t believe it was a stable, safe nation.”
While some Venezuelans, particularly those who lived under Maduro’s regime, may celebrate the military action, Creps said there remains significant questions about the future stability of the country and the status of those living on American soil. “Those who lived in fear under Maduro’s leadership absolutely might have some joy and relief in this move, but the future is far from secure for anyone in Venezuela,” Creps said.
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