Nearly 500,000 Venezuelan Migrants Given Temporary Legal Status

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced nearly 500,000 Venezuelan migrants are eligible for temporary legal status in the United States.

“Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas today announced the extension and redesignation of Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning,” the DHS wrote.

US gives temporary legal status to nearly half a million Venezuelan migrants | Just The News https://t.co/ZR7CKKU1EU

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) September 21, 2023

“This redesignation provides temporary protection from removal, as well as employment authorization for individuals in the United States before July 31, 2023,” the DHS added.

“Temporary protected status provides individuals already present in the United States with protection from removal when the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return,” said Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“That is the situation that Venezuelans who arrived here on or before July 31 of this year find themselves in. We are accordingly granting them the protection that the law provides. However, it is critical that Venezuelans understand that those who have arrived here after July 31, 2023 are not eligible for such protection, and instead will be removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay,” he added.

“Applicants for TPS under this redesignation must demonstrate that they are Venezuelan nationals (or individuals without nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuelan) who have been continuously residing in the United States since July 31, 2023 and meet other eligibility criteria,” the DHS continued.

Biden govt. offers temporary residence, work permits to nearly 500,000 Venezuelanshttps://t.co/YAkW3T1FE3

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 21, 2023

“There are currently approximately 242,700 TPS beneficiaries under Venezuela’s existing TPS designation. There are an additional approximately 472,000 nationals of Venezuela who may be eligible under the redesignation of Venezuela,” the DHS noted.

Just the News reports:

Additionally, Homeland Security officials said that the work permits will now be valid for five years rather than two for many migrants as part of an effort to decrease the number of renewal applications the agency needs to review.

The announcement comes as Customs and Border Protection agents have encountered more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants so far this fiscal year, according to the latest data available, which is from July.

The administration’s announcement was welcomed by large cities such as New York, as they struggle to house the large influx of immigrants, many from Venezuela, and have been calling on the administration to let the immigrants work rather than rely on local services, according to The Associated Press.

The Biden administration continues to allow an unprecedented number of illegal migrants into the United States through the southern border.

A report published by the New York Post revealed 3.8 million migrants have entered the United States since Joe Biden took office.

Shocking 3.8 million migrants have entered US since Biden took office — 1.5 million of whom sneaked in https://t.co/Cwn4GHCpqf pic.twitter.com/cSpGAQw9sD

— New York Post (@nypost) September 21, 2023

From the New York Post:

A jaw-dropping 3.8 million people have entered the United States through its borders since President Joe Biden took office in 2021 — nearly half of whom slipped into the country illegally and were never caught.

Over the last three years, 2,345,600 people have been granted Notices to Appear (NTAs) before an immigration court, according to figures compiled by Syracuse University’s TRAC immigration database.

NTAs are issued to people who arrive on US soil, hand themselves in to Border Patrol and claim asylum. If they are deemed to potentially have a case, they are assigned a hearing — often years in advance — where a judge will determine if they can remain in the country or will be deported. The filings provide an accurate picture of the number of migrants entering the country.

Over 1.23 million of those NTAs were issued in the Department of Homeland Security’s financial year 2023 alone, which runs from October 1 to September 30.

Those numbers are far from the full picture of people entering the country. Over the past three years more than 1.5 million so called “gotaways” — those who Customs and Border Protection estimate have made it across the border into the country with being detected or caught — and those numbers have also steadily been increasing year-by-year.