Miami.- The executive order issued two days ago about the Temporary Protection Statute (TPS) for Venezuelans, does not eliminate this benefit as reportedwhat establishes is the revocation of the extension for 18 months, as approved ten days before concluding his mandate President Joe Biden, who adopted the measure in advance in relation to the time in which these extensions are commonly approved.
This was clarified by the expert lawyer in immigration issues, María Herrera Mellado, consulted by Las Américas Diario.
“Only the extension for these citizens was annulled, But the program is maintained and this has to go little by little. Decisions have to be made on a deadline because if not, it extends automatically, ”said Herrera Mellado.
In his opinion, the TPS for Venezuelans in the United States has entered a phase of uncertainty.
“American immigration policy It requires that the government determine, in regular intervals, if the protections must be renewed before its expiration. In this context, the then Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, approved an extension of the TPS, but some critics argue that this decision was made prematurely, ”he said.
The lawyer said that an official of the Department of National Security, Under anonymity, he affirmed that the Biden Administration could have implemented this last minute extension as a strategy to limit the decisions of the Trump administration on the subject.
“Currently, those Venezuelans who received the TPS in 2021 will retain their protections until September 2025, while those who obtained it in 2023 will be protected until at least April 2025. However, the head of the US Department of Security , has Until Saturday, February 1 to decide if it grants a new extension For the beneficiaries of 2023, ”said Herrera Mellado.
The expert added that “If the administration does not make a decision before that deadline, The protections will be extended automatically for six months, according to the official notice. ”
However, there is the possibility that the Trump administration decides not to renew the TPS for the Venezuelans who obtained it in 2023, leaving in the air the migratory future of thousands of people, he explained.
When the administration of Joe Biden extended the TPS said that benefited 600,000 Venezuelans. The protections also extended to people from El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan
Status
For its part, María Montoya, immigration lawyer, agrees that Revocating the TPS “is not so simple, especially since the US is part of international treaties”so you are not talking about the elimination of it.
He clarified that the temporary protection statute “is a measure of old data protection, but for Venezuelans it is recent date.”
The firm’s expert Montoya Consulting He stressed that Venezuelans must try to change immigration status, What is time for those who benefited from this program.
The DHS justified, in turn, the extension of the TPS For Venezuelans for “the serious humanitarian emergency that the country continues to face, under Maduro’s regime.”
The TPS is a temporary migratory benefit established by the United States government for people of certain nationalities that cannot return to their countries of origin safely.
FOUNTAIN: Interview with lawyer María Herrera Mellado / DHS / News Barquisimeto / Diario Las Américas
