DORAL, Fla. – Officials in South Florida are speaking up against the end of the U.S. Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans over fear that it will hurt their local economies.
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez; Maureen Porras, the Doral vice mayor; and Fabio Andrade, a Weston commissioner, are among the locals who disagree with ending TPS.
Porras said he expects the new immigration policy to impact the local economy since businesses will close and there will be a workforce shortage.
“We are also going to see some of the investments made into the community and the real estate, that will suffer as well,” Porras said.
Andrade said he expects there will be an impact to Weston’s tax revenue.
“The tax revenue is important to all of us to maintain our taxes very low, no question about it that any economic impact also will affect taxes, the residents, property values will be evaluated there too,” Andrade said.
Gimenez said he has been talking to Reps. Mario Diaz Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar about the very legitimate issues that Doral and Weston will face.
“They are not happy about it either and we are going to express our frustrations and dissatisfactions with the administration,” Gimenez said.
The Venezuelan American Caucus announced Monday that the nonprofit organization is joining forces with the League of United Latin American Citizens on the legal fight against President Donald Trump’s administration’s plan to not renew TPS in April.
Gimenez sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security on Friday.“ All the members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, are Venezuelans but not all Venezuelans are Tren de Aragua gang members,” Gimenez wrote.
Gimenez said he understands VAC’s position.
“You have to be a little bit more strategic. You have a group of people who have been some of your staunchest allies and they feel betrayed and if I were them, I would feel betrayed,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez said the Trump administration needs to focus on how to get rid of “Maduro and his gang of thugs” and not on ending TPS for law-abiding Venezuelan migrants.
“We have had really good outstanding citizens in our hometown that have been productive, ingrained in our society, and are part of the economy,” Gimenez said. “You can’t treat everybody with the same broad stroke and so you need to be a little bit more precise, surgical, in who we need to remove. We need to remove criminals.”
Interview with Doral vice mayor
Local 10 reached out to Sen. Rick Scott and he provided the following statement:
“President Trump took action to protect vulnerable Venezuelans during his first term – but then former president Joe Biden abused the TPS program, opened our border and took action that dismantled our immigration system and our ability to fully vet true protection seekers. The weak open border policies of Biden and Democrats allowed the illegitimate dictators like Maduro, Diaz-Canel and Ortega to take full advantage and weaponize migration by opening their jails and sending dangerous criminals, like Tren de Aragua, to terrorize our country. Innocent Americans like Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray have paid the price.
“I stand with the people of Venezuela fighting for their freedom and support protections for legitimate persecution claims that are fully vetted and serving the best interests of the United States, not exploiting the system. Ultimately, the U.S. would be safer with Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua as free democracies and not failed states in our hemisphere.”
Florida Sen. Rick Scott