TEXAS — Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the U.S. are losing a layer of legal protection as the country’s designation under a federal program expired last week.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a program that allows people from countries dealing with humanitarian crises or natural disasters to live and work in the U.S. temporarily without risk of deportation.
Will Rodriguez is one of the 268,000 people granted the first iteration of TPS for Venezuelans. He and his wife left the country 10 years ago as life worsened under President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
“We were professionals, young and the country was not giving us the opportunities we were seeking,” Rodriguez said.
They applied for asylum, and their case is still pending today. When they became eligible for TPS in 2021, Rodriguez said it felt like an extra layer of security.
“It was a big relief because asylum does not provide you status; it’s just that you are in the process,” Rodriguez said.
They will still be able to live in the U.S. with their three children while they await a decision in their asylum case.
For many others, TPS was their only protection.
“They’re going to lose status,” immigration attorney Lance Curtright said.
Curtright says everyone’s case is different — including why some may not have found other legal pathways while under TPS. He says the quick and aggressive changes in policy were unexpected.
“Obviously, we’re going to possibly lose some very hardworking individuals who have done everything the right way,” Curtright said.
Curtright said that while the growing political tension between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments and recent military action could complicate the process, it is legal for the U.S. to deport people to the country.
“Whether they can accept them because there’s an ongoing war is another question, but the legal process is there,” he said.
Rodriguez worries that Venezuelans returning from the U.S. could face discrimination from their government.
“Venezuelans coming from the U.S., I think they’re going to be treated like a spy or harassed,” he said.
As he awaits an asylum decision, Rodriguez says he’s holding onto hope that he and his wife can remain with their children in Texas.
“It is something that’s out of our control,” he said. “So we just need to let the government make decisions and hope for the best.”
