Miami congressman urges Noem not to deport Venezuelan torture victim
U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) penned a letter for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem raising 'serious concerns' about the detention of Gregory Antonio Sanabria Tarazona, who was jailed for more than three years by Venezuelan authorities and reportedly tortured for his participation in nationwide anti-Maduro protests in 2014.
'I'm increasingly concerned with the growing cases of people in the United States who have fled oppressive regimes and are being detained and held for possible deportation,' said Diaz-Balart, on X. 'Cases like Sanabria's, and so many others with legitimate claims of persecution, require a thorough review.'
The letter from Diaz-Balart is the latest example of Miami Republicans pushing back against Trump's immigration agenda, the goal of which is mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Caught in the crosshairs are immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti — among South Florida's largest immigrant communities — many of whom have asylum petitions that claim they would face persecution should they be deported back home.
A senior DHS official told the Miami Herald that Sanabria Tarazona would remain in ICE custody pending a decision by an immigration judge.
'All of his claims will be heard by the judge,' said the DHS official.
Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in Texas and placed him in detention.
Renzo Prieto, a former National Assembly member and fellow former political prisoner in Venezuela, first publicly denounced Sanabria Tarazona's detention on June 12 and urged U.S. authorities to reconsider.
In a post on X he wrote: 'Gregory is one of the young people who fought for democracy in Venezuela. He was imprisoned, tortured, and persecuted by the criminal gang that holds power in our country hostage.'
Diaz-Balart described Sanabria Tarazona as a courageous political prisoner who had endured years of abuse, including a stint in Maduro's notorious torture facility, El Helicoide. He urged DHS to conduct a fair and judicious review of Sanabria Tarazona's case. 'I am profoundly concerned by the numerous and credible reports that he endured torture, and the abuse he could face if forcibly returned to the repressive, vindictive Maduro regime,' he wrote to Noem.
Kelvi Zambrano, a lawyer who represented Sanabria Tarazona's in Venezuela and internationally, told the Miami Herald that if Sanabria is deported, he 'may face irreparable harm,' not only because of his political activism, but also due to the current political conditions in Venezuela.
'Torture and arbitrary detentions have intensified as the government strengthens its repressive policies and adopts new mechanisms of persecution.'
'The detention re-victimizes him'
Sanabria Tarazona was a 20-year-old computer engineering student when Venezuelan authorities arrested him on Oct. 7, 2014, in Táchira, a western state near the Colombian border. Sanabria Tarazona had taken part in a nationwide civil disobedience aimed at ousting Maduro called La Salida or The Exit.
During his imprisonment, security agents beat and bit him, interrogated him with a bag over his head and shocked him with electricity, according to media reports. After his release in 2018, doctors diagnosed him with moderate cerebral edema and a broken nose that required surgery. That same year, the United Nations Human Rights Office condemned the 'severe beating' he endured and called for a full investigation into the use of torture and mistreatment of detainees at El Helicoide.
Sanabria Tarazona crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2022, according to Homeland Security. He settled in Dallas, where he worked in construction and air conditioning installation. He was also granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a designation first granted to Venezuelans in 2021 under the Biden administration. He received protection in 2023 after the program was expanded, said Zambrano. However, the Trump administration recently rescinded that protection, placing him, and more than 350,000 Venezuelans, at risk of deportation.
Zambrano has requested protective measures for Sanabria Tarazona from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. Committee Against Torture in an effort to prevent his deportation to Venezuela.
Zambrano said Sanabria Tarazona is in distress, warning that his detention in the U.S. re-victimizes him. 'After being arbitrarily detained and tortured in Venezuela for more than three years, being detained again has a severe psychological and emotional impact,' Zambrano said. 'He is a person who has already endured arbitrary detention and abuse. This experience reopens that trauma.'
GOP lawmakers sound alarm on Trump immigration policies
Other Hispanic lawmakers from Miami, at both the state and federal level, have recently raised alarm about how Trump's immigration policies are affecting immigrants, particularly in South Florida. Strong support from Cubans and Venezuelans, among other Latino electorates, helped Trump flip Miami-Dade red.
But now, Trump's immigration policies are largely targeting these nationalities, which have been large sources of migration to the United States in recent years. That includes the end of the Biden parole processes for Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans, as well as the termination of deportation protections and work permits under Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela. The Trump administration also restricted travel from Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti this month.
READ MORE: 'Leave Immediately': Trump administration orders self-deportation for Biden-era parolees
Shortly before Diaz-Balart sent his letter, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar signed a letter asking ICE's acting director to prioritize convicted criminals and violent offenders. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas spearheaded the letter, which several Hispanic Republicans in Congress also signed.
'Every minute that we spend pursuing an individual with a clean record is a minute less that we dedicate to apprehending terrorists or cartel operatives,' said the letter.
In a separate recent statement, Salazar said the uncertainty that Trump's immigration policies have created in her congressional district broke her heart and called ICE's immigration court arrests, including in Miami, a threat to due process.
READ MORE: 'Inhumane:' Latinas for Trump founder condemns White House immigration crackdown
State Sen. Ileana Garcia, a staunch Trump supporter who represents Salazar's district in Tallahassee, criticized Trump's immigration policies as 'unacceptable and inhumane.' Like Salazar, she cited courthouse arrests of people in immigration proceedings.
'This is not what we voted for,' she wrote in her statement.
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