US grants temporary protected status to Venezuelan migrants

The US government has agreed to offer temporary protected status to thousands of Venezuelan migrants who have fled political and economic turmoil, giving them the chance to stay in the US for at least a further 18 months and apply for work.

The decision marks a break with the Trump era and suggests the administration of Joe Biden may be more willing to help Venezuelans caught up in the stand-off between Washington and Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government in Caracas.

“The living conditions in Venezuela reveal a country in turmoil, unable to protect its own citizens,” Alejandro Mayorkas, US homeland security secretary, said on Monday. “It is in times of extraordinary and temporary circumstances like these that the United States steps forward to support eligible Venezuelan nationals already present here, while their home country seeks to right itself out of the current crises.”

It follows a similar move by Colombia, which last month granted enhanced legal status to thousands of undocumented Venezuelan migrants.

More than 5m Venezuelans have fled their country since 2015 as the country’s economy has collapsed because of a combination of mismanagement by the government and sanctions applied by the Trump administration in an attempt to force Maduro from power.

Millions have sought refuge in neighbouring Latin American countries while some have headed north to the US.

Hours before leaving office, Donald Trump granted Venezuelan migrants deferred enforced departure (DED) status, meaning they would not be returned to Venezuela. However, they were still caught in a legal limbo, without authorisation to seek work.

The temporary protected status (TPS) designation Monday from the Biden administration will last 18 months, and can be renewed.

“Unlike DED, TPS is based in legal statute and has proven to be more durable across administrations,” the Washington Office on Latin America, a think-tank in the US capital, said.

The Department of Homeland Security emphasised that only Venezuelans already residing in the US would be eligible. “Individuals should not believe smugglers or others claiming the border is now open,” it said.

Bob Menendez, a Democratic US senator from New Jersey, said the government’s action meant that “upwards of 300,000 Venezuelan women, men and children will be protected from deportation and will no longer live in fear of being turned back to Maduro’s humanitarian catastrophe”.

Colombia granted 10-year legal status to Venezuelan migrants, allowing them to work legally and access vital public services such as health and education. The country has taken in about 1.8m migrants — more than any other country by far — many of whom have crossed the long, shared border between the two nations illegally. 

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, described the move as “both compassionate and pragmatic” and said it deserved immediate international support.

By the end of 2021 the Venezuelan migrant crisis is expected to rival Syria as the world’s worst refugee crisis, in terms of numbers leaving the country in recent years. However, it has grabbed far less international attention and received only a fraction of the aid money. A UN-organised appeal for $1.4bn last year to help Venezuelan refugees was only half-funded.

Additional reporting by Katrina Manson in Washington