(Washington D.C.- GNB): The United States will allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the United States to apply for temporary protection, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday.
The department said Venezuelans would be eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, until September 2022.
This new designation of TPS for Venezuela enables Venezuelan nationals (and individuals without nationality who last resided in Venezuela) currently residing in the United States to file initial applications for TPS, so long as they meet eligibility requirements, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement.
“The living conditions in Venezuela reveal a country in turmoil, unable to protect its own citizens,” Mayorkas said in a statement.
“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.”
The US Department of State said earlier, “our overriding goal is to support a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela through free and fair presidential elections and to help the Venezuelan people rebuild their lives and their country.”
Carlos Vecchi, the US representative of Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido, said on Twitter that the decision was a “necessary and urgent measure, which is finally becoming a reality.”
Guaido said hewas thankful for the decision. “The Venezuelans who have been forced to flee to the United States in fear for their lives can now sleep easier knowing the United States is in solidarity with our people,” Guaido said in a statement.
The move fulfils a promise that President Joe Biden made during the 2020 election campaign to give shelter to Venezuelans who left their homeland amid an economic collapse, humanitarian crisis and political turmoil under President Nicolas Maduro.
The decision will allow an estimated 320,000 people to apply to legally live and work in the United States for 18 months. They will have to show that they have been residing in the country continuously since March 8, 2021 to qualify for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
In the past few years, the Venezuelan economy has spiralled out of control, with widespread food and medicine shortages, frequent power outages and massive inflation.
The U.S. had placed sanctions against Venezuela under former president Barack Obama, when Biden was Vice President. An official said the administration was reviewing the sanctions to make sure they were effective against their intended targets and not “unnecessarily” punishing the Venezuelan people.
Approximately 5.4 million Venezuelans have emigrated in recent years due to the crisis, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Venezuelans will have to show they have been residing in the US continuously as of March 8 to qualify for TPS, the Department of Homeland Security said.
The temporary protection gives them the ability to stay in the country and work legally.
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