New York, NY—The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), together with local immigrant organizations, is calling on President Donald Trump to grant Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Venezuelan New Yorkers in response to President Donald Trump’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 600,000 status holders.
Venezuela’s political and humanitarian crisis is ongoing. Venezuelans who have fled persecution and established new roots in New York do not yet have the stability and certainty of safety they need should they be forced to return. Without protections from removal such as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), Venezuelan New Yorkers will be forced to live in limbo here in America or become another victim of the dangerous deportation machine, simply for trying to safeguard their family from the violence that may await them in Venezuela.
“New York has welcomed thousands of Venezuelans who left their country in pursuit of safety, freedom, and opportunity, and many now call this state home. They fled a country marked by economic and humanitarian collapse. Yet today, far too many Venezuelan families remain trapped in legal limbo, living with constant uncertainty about their futures. By revoking legal status and threatening deportations, Trump has deliberately destabilized families who have done everything required of them. Forcing people to return to a country that remains in turmoil would jeopardize lives and threaten the safety of entire families. We call on Trump to act now and designate DED for Venezuelans who call this country home and have established deep roots in our communities, from working essential jobs to raising families in our state. Without this protection, families could face detention, loss of work authorization, and separation from their loved ones, further destabilizing communities," said Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition.
“As a Venezuelan-American, I want to be clear: Venezuela is still in turmoil. Nearly 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States who lost TPS cannot safely return to a country where the threat of persecution and economic collapse may still exist. The U.S. government must act now grant Deferred Enforced Departure to protect Venezuelans whose lives and freedom are still at risk,” said Jesús Aguais, President, Aid for Life and AID for AIDS.
“Venezuelan Alliance for Community Support (VACS) strongly supports the designation of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Venezuelan nationals, because our recent, community-based trauma-informed needs assessment of Venezuelan families in New York City shows that legal status is the foundation of safety, stability, and recovery. Venezuelans are a forced-displacement population and the most recent large immigrant community in NYC, and many families are now being retraumatized after surviving pre-migration trauma, dangerous journeys, and the stresses of resettlement, only to face renewed fear, loss of work authorization, and the threat of deportation. Political uncertainty in Venezuela and the loss of legal protections have created such intense fear that some parents are struggling to take their children to school or even attend court hearings, pushing families back into survival mode just as they were beginning to rebuild. DED would provide immediate protection to adults and children, restore work authorization, prevent forced return to dangerous conditions, and reestablish the first and most essential step of trauma recovery — safety — allowing Venezuelan families to heal, integrate, and contribute with dignity, which is both a humanitarian and a human-rights imperative,” said Rosa Maria Bramble Caballero, Executive Director, Venezuelan Alliance for Community Support.