Miami’s ‘Little Venezuela’ fears Trump’s moves against migration

DORAL Fla AP Wilmer Escaray left Venezuela in and enrolled at Miami Dade College opening his first restaurant six years later In current times he has a dozen businesses that hire Venezuelan asylum seekers like he once was workers who are now terrified by what could be the end of their legal shield from deportation Since the start of February the Trump administration has ended two federal programs that together allowed more Venezuelans to live and work legally in the U S along with hundreds of thousands of Cubans Haitians and Nicaraguans In the largest Venezuelan group in the United States people dread what could face them if lawsuits that aim to stop the governing body fail It s all anyone discusses in Little Venezuela or Doralzuela a city of people surrounded by Miami sprawl freeways and the Florida Everglades Deportation fears in Doralzuela People who lose their protections would have to remain illegally at the menace of being deported or return home an unlikely path given the political and economic turmoil in Venezuela It s really quite unfortunate to lose that human capital because there are people who do work here that other people won t do Escaray announced at one of his Sabor Venezolano restaurants Spanish is more common than English in shopping centers along Doral s wide avenues and Venezuelans feel like they re back home but with more safety and comfort A sweet scent wafts from round flat cornmeal arepas sold at a multitude of establishments Stores at gas stations sell flour and white cheese used to make arepas and T-shirts and hats with the yellow blue and red stripes of the Venezuelan flag New lives at vulnerability John came from Venezuela nine years ago and bought a growing construction company with a partner He and his wife are on Temporary Protected Status or TPS which Congress created in for people in the United States whose homelands are considered unsafe to return due to natural tragedy or civil strife Beneficiaries can live and work while it lasts but TPS carries no path to citizenship Born in the U S their -year-old daughter is a citizen John appealed to be identified by first name only for fear of being deported His wife helps with administration at their construction business while working as a real-estate broker The couple described their daughter that they may have to leave the United States Venezuela is not an option It hurts us that the leadership is turning its back on us John announced We aren t people who came to commit crimes we came to work to build A federal judge ordered on March that temporary protected status would stand until a legal challenge s next stage in court and at least Venezuelans were temporarily spared becoming illegal Escaray the owner of the restaurants declared nearly all of his employees are Venezuelan and more than are on TPS The federal immigration scheme that allowed more than Cubans Venezuelans Haitians and Nicaraguans to work and live legally in the U S humanitarian parole expires April absent court intervention Politics of migration Venezuelans were one of the main beneficiaries when former President Joe Biden sharply expanded TPS and other temporary protections Trump tried to end them in his first term and now his second The end of the temporary protections has generated little political reaction among Republicans except for three Cuban-American representatives from Florida who called for avoiding the deportations of affected Venezuelans Mario D az Ballart Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar have urged the leadership to spare Venezuelans without criminal records from deportation and review TPS beneficiaries on a case-by-case basis The mayor of Doral home to a Trump golf club since wrote a letter to the president asking him to find a legal pathway for Venezuelans who haven t committed crimes These families do not want handouts explained Christi Fraga a daughter of Cuban exiles They want an opportunity to continue working building and investing in the United States A country s elite followed by the working class About million people have fled Venezuela since settling first in neighboring countries in Latin America and the Caribbean After the COVID- pandemic they increasingly set their sights on the United States walking through the notorious jungle in Colombia and Panama or flying to the United States on humanitarian parole with a financial sponsor In Doral upper-middle-class professionals and entrepreneurs came to invest in property and businesses when socialist Hugo Ch vez won the presidency in the late s They were followed by political opponents and entrepreneurs who set up small businesses In modern years more lower-income Venezuelans have come for work in amenity industries They are doctors lawyers beauticians construction workers and house cleaners Certain are naturalized U S citizens or live in the country illegally with U S -born children Others overstay tourist visas seek asylum or have various form of temporary status Thousands went to Doral as Miami International Airport facilitated decades of advancement Frank Carre o president of the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce and a Doral resident for years noted there is an air of uncertainty What is going to happen People don t want to return or can t return to Venezuela he mentioned