On several occasions I have spoken about the need for a temporary protection status known as TPS for our Venezuelan brothers who are in an irregular situation of permanence in the US. Also for those who are in some legal process, for example, asylum among others – due to the economic crisis and the situation of violence and persecution by the ruling regime in Venezuela against its citizens. This situation has forced many of them to flee to the USA, making the letter issued by the director of the Immigration Service (USCIS) acting Ken Cucciunelli, which implies that at the moment there are no plans to designate Venezuela as a nation whose citizens will be protected by the TPS, incomprehensible.
As indicated in a previous brief, TPS is an immigration program created in 1990 by the US Government to grant temporary permits and in an extraordinary way to nationals of a signatory country affected by armed conflicts or natural disasters. For decades, the Program has been automatically renewed, but President Trump dismissed it as a temporary program and it is up to the US Congress to approve a law to regulate the situation of its beneficiaries. In this sense, a few weeks ago the Judicial Committee of the lower house of Congress gave the green light to the lower house in plenary session to present a preliminary draft of the immigration protection program for Venezuelans that allows them to work and therefore live temporarily without be deported, given the humanitarian crisis suffered by our Venezuelan brothers.
It remains to be seen if the President will sign the possible bill presented by Congress, which, if approved, would break with the migration guidelines that he has followed up to date within the framework of the zero tolerance policy.
