Two US congressmen Today they proposed a law that would allow Venezuelan citizens to apply for the immigration protection known as the Temporary Protection State (TPS) given the “repression” of the government of the president of that country, Nicolás Maduro.
“Under the TPS, Venezuelans would be protected from deportation and they would be granted work authorization, which would allow people to pay taxes and contribute to their communities,” said Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and Democrat Darren Soto, both members of the US House of Representatives representing Florida. This legislation, according to its authors, would also authorize Venezuelans to travel abroad “due to emergencies and extenuating circumstances.”
Diaz-Balart, of Cuban origin, argued that Venezuelans “have suffered for many years under the repression of the regime of (Hugo) Chávez and Maduro”, which has caused thousands of nationals to be exiled.
“The hyperinflation, the drastic shortage and the serious abuses against the human rights have forced many Venezuelans to go into exile, and the conditions in Venezuela are still too dangerous for them to return,” the congressman explained. For his part, Soto considered that Venezuela should be added as a country designated for TPS “as a way to help escape Maduro’s terror”.
Currently, the TPS protects more than 436,000 immigrants from deportation, of which approximately 90% are from El Salvador (262,000), Honduras (86,000), Haiti (58,000) and Nicaragua (5,000).
This temporary program, established in 1990, protects those protected from deportation and allows access to a temporary work permit for migrants who can not return to their country safely due to natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary conditions. The US president, Donald Trump, has canceled in recent months that immigration protection for some countries from different dates, including Nicaragua and El Salvador.
The Trump government has announced in recent days that it does not recognize the “illegitimate takeover of the dictatorship” of Maduro, who recently swore his office until 2025, while increasing his pressure on that “corrupt regime.”
Since Trump’s arrival in the White House in January 2017, the US Executive has imposed several rounds of economic sanctions against Caracas, including Maduro himself, his wife Cilia Flores, and senior Chavez government officials. Venezuela suffers a deep economic recession and has fallen into a spiral of hyperinflation, with an estimate for the closing of 2018 of 1,000,000% price increase.
With information of CNN.
