A 10 -year -old Venezuelan girl lives in New York City with special legal protection against her mother’s deportation again and again the same question throughout the week: “My mother, what will I do if immigration comes?”
The girl, her brothers and parents are among the 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants who have been living and working in the United States with a temporary protected situation, known as TPS, over the past two years.
But a Supreme Court order from one page Last week, which provided more questions than answers, was issued at risk of legal immigration to Venezuelan with TPS – which led to uncertainty, anguish and a sense of treason for families at risk of losing their protection.
“This makes you feel severe depression, anxiety and sorrow,” the mother of the little girl told NBC News in her Spanish hometown. “That’s all terrible.”
With the absence of a clear timetable, the Supreme Court gave President Donald Trump and his administration the green light to continue their efforts to end the protection granted to these Venezuelan in 2023 by then President Joe Biden.
NBC News spoke with the mother in New York City and two other Venezuelan TPS holders, one in North Carolina and one in Los Angeles, about the movement of changing immigration policies while the Trump administration is retracting the temporary protection of the possible group of campaigns that extend to the total.
All three TPS holders asked not to publish their names for safety reasons, as they expressed their concerns about protecting against deportation under TPS.
TPS is a humanitarian name under the United States Law for Citizens in some countries that suffer from war, natural disasters, or other serious crises that will make them unsafe to return.
Benefits are allowed to legally stay in the United States and obtain a work permit for up to 18 months – taking into account the extensions.
This is the case for a young political scientist who fled the government’s persecution in its homeland, Venezuela, to settle in North Carolina. She has TPS and She said that he was overwhelmed by frustration after she saw the Supreme Court order on Monday.
She said: “The presence in this forgetfulness seems to be the right that I have already acquired has been taken away from you,” adding that TPS holders like her did everything correctly to meet the requirements and pay hundreds of dollars as work permits and request fees.
“He is still looking for a better future.”
The affected TPS holders are part of one of the world’s largest migration crises. More than 7.7 million Veneers have fled their homeland over the past decade – they are fleeing Violence, inflation, organized crime and political repression From a repeatedly accused system Human rights violation, Besides Lack of food, medicine and lack of basic services Such as electricity and health care.
After persecution due to the nature of its work, the political world reached the United States in 2022 with a visa. She said that applying for TPS and receiving it under the naming of 2023 gave her the “peace of mind” that is needed. This means, “I am in a safe place and I am legally here.”
She said: “This changes everything in your daily life,” adding that protection helped her to rid the persecution of persecution and Human rights violations that I faced in Venezuela And start a new, personal and professional chapter.
Biden had extended TPS until October 2026 before leaving the position. However, the Ministry of Internal Security canceled this extension shortly after Trump took office, and moved to end the program to Venezuelans under the naming of 2023 TPS. The litigation is underway to determine whether the program remains until next year or ends early.
But what happens in the meantime? This is the nerve question that was taking place in the minds of the Venezuelan mother in New York City throughout the week. All of her five family members got TPS under the name 2023 for Venezuelan citizens.
The mother said that her husband, who was recovering from an accident that led to his back injury, did not go to follow -up dates this week. Her daughters attended the last week of school with renewed fears of their detention or parents.
Since she got TPS, the mother has obtained a “decent job career” that allowed her to provide her family and open a bank account to move towards a financially stable future, adding that her family is constantly consistent with the migration dates and requirements.
For this reason, the Trump administration’s insistence on ending the TPS for Venismuelin like is unfair.
The mother said that the family is not only afraid of the possibility of losing deportation protection and employment license if TPS is over, but it also worries “distortion and facing foreigners again” in their daily life after the Supreme Court order.
From walking through the forest to cold temperatures and hunger on their journey to the United States, she said that she found herself reflected on everything her family did “to reach a country where one is still looking for a better future.”
For this reason, Niurka Meléndez, a researcher for Venezuelan asylum, director, founder of Venezuelan, and immigrants, with the help of New York City, leads volunteer efforts and volunteers to ensure that “paralysis of fear”, helps people search for reliable information and legal resources.
“I feel betrayal”
From handing over to work in the Labor Organization, another Venezuelan mother works with TPS in Los Angeles multiple functions to support herself and her family in Venezuela.
She said that the crisis in her homeland is so bad that her 30 -year -old daughter, a dentist in Venezuela, cannot meet her needs. She sends money to help her and her elderly fathers to stay and get the basic commodities that they may not enjoy due to a shortage.
For her, returning to Venezuela only means returning to a homeland full of diseases. This also means that her family in Venezuela will lose the source of the financial support they depend on.
It, like many other Venezuelan, believes that Trump had what it took to stand against the Nicholas Maduro regime in Venezuela and paves the way for the possible return of those who fled.
“But I was wrong,” she said in Spanish.
DHS said in February note Announcing its intention to end the TPS for Venezuelan under the name of 2023 that Venezuela witnessed “noticeable improvements in many areas such as economics, public health and crime.”
The mother in Los Angeles said she knows this is not true on the basis of her conversations with relatives in Venezuela.
“Now, I feel betrayal,” added.
In New York, Immigration lawyer Edward Kochia immersed calls from hundreds of his clients in TPS last week where they were trying to determine what to do after that.
“You are talking about a large number of people who escaped from a terrible situation in Venezuela, which has not improved,” Kochia said. “Their situation is everything in forgetting.”
Kochia said that the Trump administration may try to strip the protection of these Venezuelans to make it ready for fast removal. But if legal procedures are followed, people may give more time to know other paths to remain legally in the United States.
Venezuelan advises those at risk of losing TPS to document everything they do while they are in the United States, and they keep evidence of the problems he faced and their relatives in Venezuela, and to explore other immigration paths Check their applications It is presented properly.
