WASHINGTON – As one of his last acts in office, President Trump authorized a program to grant work permits and protect the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants from the United States without legal permission, an action that President-elect Joe Biden promised to take during the 2020 campaign.
The official name known as Forced Deferred Departure provides legal protection to any Venezuelan citizen present in the United States from January 20, 2021, for 18 months. This will benefit at least 94,000 Venezuelans in the country without authorization starting in 2018, according to the Institute for Migration Policy, although analysts believe the current number is likely to be higher.
Mr. Trump’s move is seen as a form of pressure the U.S. government can use against Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan authoritarian leader the Trump administration has targeted with sanctions, a limited travel ban and other measures. In January 2019, the US officially recognized the country’s opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s interim president.
During the 2020 campaign, Mr Biden said he would offer temporary protection status to Venezuelan immigrants if he won the election, addressing a major demand from the Venezuelan-American community in Florida that he is courting. TPS is roughly identical to the delayed departure schedule delayed in the protections it offers. The DED is issued directly by a chair, while the TPS must be approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Florida Republicans and Democrats have lobbied for the move – South Florida is home to one of the largest Venezuelan populations in the United States – and the White House has long been unbalanced whether to take the plunge.