Latest news with #VenezuelanCommunity
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘We're living under uncertainty ': Organizations team up to help TPS holders
Immigration advocacy groups and numerous organizations united Saturday for a rally supporting the Venezuelan community in Orlando. They gathered at the First Baptist Hispano to offer legal advice to those who are or could become undocumented following the latest Supreme Court decision on Temporary Protective Status (known as TPS). 'Many people are feeling afraid and that's understandable because of what's going on across the country,' said Jose Palma, with the National TPS Alliance. 'The hope is that people will understand what's going on with TPS, and how we are organizing to protect TPS and everyone protected by TPS and how we all, working together, can hopefully achieve a way to protect our families.' TPS is offered to those fleeing countries experiencing political instability. The document allows them to work, live and pay taxes in the U.S. 'We need to be fighting,' said William Diaz, founder of Casa de Venezuela, a nonprofit that helps Venezuelan citizens living in the United States.'We have something today, and then one of the courts comes tomorrow with a different decision. It's a constant fight.' The Trump administration is ending TPS for Venezuelans. On May 19th, the Supreme Court permitted the program's end, affecting about 350 Venezuelans currently in the country, with other nationalities to follow. 'About 55,000 Hondurans are living this uncertainty,' said Marduel Hernandez, a TPS holder. 'As of right now, TPS holders from Honduras and Nicaragua, we're living under uncertainty of what's going to be happening.' The assembly follows the Supreme Court's decision to end humanitarian parole for over 500,000 migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti. This temporary protection, similar to TPS, is for those fleeing politically unstable countries. 'It's important to say that all beneficiaries of TPS and parole, they have no criminal record at all. Before they get the authorization to enter the country they go through a background check,' Diaz said. Casa de Venezuela has two more events planned for the weekend in Tampa and Miami. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Washington Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
US business owners are concerned about Venezuelan employees with temporary status
DORAL, Fla. — As a business owner in the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, Wilmer Escaray is stressed and in shock. He is unsure what steps he needs to take after the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants.
Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
US business owners are concerned about Venezuelan employees with temporary status
DORAL, Fla. (AP) — As a business owner in the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, Wilmer Escaray feels is stressed and in shock. He is unsure what steps he needs to take after the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants. Escaray owns 15 restaurants and three markets, most of them located in Doral, a city of 80,000 people known as 'Little Venezuela' or 'Doralzuela.' At least 70% of Escaray's 150 employees and many of his customers are Venezuelan immigrants with Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS. The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a federal judge's ruling that had paused the administration's plans to end TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to deportation. Doralzuela, a city surrounded by Miami sprawl, freeways and the Florida Everglades, is coming to grips with the Supreme Court decision. Like many business owners with Venezuelan employees, Escaray lacks direction. He does not know how long his employees will have legal authorization to work or if he will be able to help them, he said. 'The impact for the business will be really hard,' said Escaray, a 37-year-old Venezuelan American who came to the U.S. to study in 2007 and opened his first restaurant six years later. 'I don't know yet what I am going to do. I have to discuss with my team, with my family to see what will be the plan.' TPS allows people already in the U.S. to legally live and work here because their native countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife. The Trump administration said immigrants were poorly vetted after the Biden administration dramatically expanded the designation. Immigration attorney Evelyn Alexandra Batista said the Supreme Court did not specifically address the extension of TPS-based work permits, and some work authorizations remain in effect. She warned, though, that there is no guarantee that they will continue to remain valid because the Supreme Court can change this. 'This means that employers and employees alike should be exploring all other alternative options as TPS was never meant to be permanent,' said Batista, who has received hundreds of calls from TPS beneficiaries and companies looking for advice in the months since Trump returned to office and began his immigration crackdown. Among the options they are exploring, she said, are visas for extraordinary abilities, investment visas, and agricultural visas. The American Business Immigration Coalition estimates that TPS holders add $31 billion to the U.S. economy through wages and spending power. There are no specific estimates of the impact of Venezuelans, although they make up the largest percentage of TPS beneficiaries. They work in hospitality, construction, agriculture, health care, retail, and food services.
