Kristi Noem<\/a>, who asserted that \u201coverwhelmingly the Venezuelans that I\u2019ve heard from or talked to are excited about the changes.\u201d <\/p>\n\u201cThey have more opportunities to go back to their country and have it be more successful and provide for their families today than they did a week ago when Maduro was still in charge,\u201d Noem said last week.<\/p>\n
But in interviews with Venezuelans who live in communities around the U.S. there was little indication of a rush to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God we\u2019re here,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Luis Rojas, who ended up in New York City after fleeing the Venezuela capital of Caracas in 2018.<\/p>\n
Rojas, 31, recounted how Venezuela\u2019s hyperinflation, which topped 1 million percent the year he fled, made it impossible to buy essentials like diapers after his partner became pregnant. They went first to Ecuador then Peru, but left to escape crime, joining thousands of Venezuelans who migrated on foot through the jungle of Panama\u2019s Dari\u00e9n Gap.<\/p>\n
Since the couple and their son arrived in the U.S., Rojas has obtained political asylum, a work permit and a driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n
In an interview this week at a Venezuelan restaurant on a New York City street lined with immigrant-run businesses, Rojas welcomed the toppling of Maduro \u201cso there can be change in Venezuela, because many people are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he expressed doubt about the Trump administration\u2019s tightened policies on Venezuelans in the U.S. that have already pushed a number of his friends to leave for countries in South America and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
For Venezuelans in the U.S., Trump has \u201cdone good things and he\u2019s done bad things,” said Rojas as he and his wife tucked into the restaurant’s $30 special: a heaping platter of fried potatoes, cassava, corn cakes, sausages, beef, chicken, plantains, fried pork rinds and cheese. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt all depends on your point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country over the past decade, with the great majority landing elsewhere in Latin America. Hundreds of thousands have made their way to the U.S., with large numbers settling in suburban communities like Kissimmee, Florida, outside Orlando, and Herriman, Utah, outside Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
Venezuelans quickly became among the largest nationalities to immigrate to the U.S. after COVID-19, lured in part by job prospects. The Biden administration offered new or expanded temporary legal protections, largely ended by Trump after he took office. Hundreds of thousands more were released in the United States after entering illegally from Mexico to pursue asylum or other forms of relief in immigration court.<\/p>\n
For people like Jesus Martinez, who fled to the U.S. in 2021 after facing physical threats and persecution, \u201clife in Venezuela is behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez, who now lives with his wife and children in Orem, Utah, and has applied for political asylum, recalled how life in Venezuela had become intolerable. While it is a relief that Maduro has been removed, he said, the Trump administration’s push to send Venezuelans back to a country whose government they still deeply distrust presents a paradox.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a contradictory situation,” said Martinez, 50. He noted that it will take considerable time before loyalists to Maduro are rooted out and Venezuela can make a transition to a stable democracy.<\/p>\n
Salima, 48, who works in the Miami advocacy office, was active in opposition politics in Venezuela, where she trained as a lawyer and marched in peaceful protests. She came to the U.S. legally with her son, who is now 10 years old, on a temporary permit for humanitarian reasons, which Trump has revoked. She is elated by Maduro\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n
But those feelings are tempered by her unease over Venezuela\u2019s future while his allies are still in power. Her mother remains in Venezuela and, even with Maduro gone, she refuses to discuss politics during chats on an encrypted app, fearful that government authorities who remain in power will find out, Salima said.<\/p>\n
With that reality still in place, the pending end of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans makes her feel \u201cvery unstable,\u201d Salima said.<\/p>\n
Rallying with other Venezuelans this week in Doral, Florida, to celebrate Maduro’s ouster, Jorge Galicia recounted fleeing in 2018 after a fellow student activist was arrested during a wave of demonstrations against the regime.<\/p>\n
After settling in the Miami area, Galicia said he joined Charlie Kirk\u2019s conservative Turning Point USA movement, whose politics closely align with Trump\u2019s. But Galicia, 30, said his support for the Trump administration began to waver as the White House\u2019s crackdown on immigrants intensified, breaking up families.<\/p>\n
Now, with Maduro gone, he expects many of the Venezuelans who fled to neighboring countries and the U.S. to start returning home. But he hopes Trump will reconsider his decision to deport Venezuelans like himself who have built new lives in the U.S. but still lack permanent status.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we\u2019re here is because there was a horrible regime that forced millions of us to leave,\u201d said Galicia, wrapped in a Venezuelan flag. But, he said, \u201ceveryone deserves to have the choice of returning home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014- <\/p>\n
Associated Press writers Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas; Josh Goodman in Doral, Florida; Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — In the days since the Trump administration ousted Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in a late-night military raid, Alejandra Salima has spoken to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6804,536,6967,8839,8838,8837,2453,609,102,4914,6638],"class_list":["post-330816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-doral","tag-driver","tag-ecuador","tag-josh-goodman","tag-manuel-coronel","tag-nationwide-tps-alliance","tag-orlando","tag-president","tag-texas","tag-trump-administration","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330818,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330816\/revisions\/330818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}