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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues, today joined Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) in reintroducing the Venezuela Temporary Protected Status and Asylum Assistance Act of 2019. The bipartisan legislation seeks to grant Temporary Protected Status for eligible Venezuelans fleeing the dire conditions in their homeland and to provide support for migration systems in the countries surrounding Venezuela.
 
Established by the U.S. Congress through the Immigration Act of 1990, TPS is a temporary, renewable program that provides relief from deportation and access to a work permit for foreign nationals from certain countries who are unable to safely return to their home country due to natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary conditions.
 
“While Maduro’s narcoterrorist regime continues to commit senseless acts of violence against the Venezuelan people, it is clear that the conditions on the ground warrants granting temporary protected status to Venezuelan nationals residing in the U.S.,” Rubio said. “This temporary solution will ensure the continued safety of Venezuelans currently in the U.S. as we work with the international community to support the legitimate government in their effort to restore democracy.”
 
“The scale of human suffering facing Venezuelans defies imagination, and the United States must show real leadership in efforts to ensure their protection,” Menendez said. “We are using this critical moment, as there is universal support for a constitutional transition to democracy in Venezuela, to introduce legislation that immediately protects eligible families in the U.S. from having to be forcibly handed over to Maduro. To deport Venezuelans back to this tragedy would be to tell them they are a burden on our communities, a menace to our national security and an unwelcome guest in our country. Reality and our national interest are precisely the opposite.”
 
“When I traveled to Venezuela last year, I found a country on the edge, facing overlapping economic, humanitarian, and political crises.  The Venezuelan government under Maduro has taken a series of repressive and undemocratic actions that threaten its own people and have isolated it from the world,” Durbin said.  “Venezuela is in the throes of a crisis, and if we are truly committed to helping the Venezuelan people, the very least we can do is ensure that Venezuelans in the United States are not forced to put their lives at risk by returning to such dangerous conditions.  It is within our power to help keep innocent men, women, and children out of harm’s way by passing the Venezuela Temporary Protected Status Act of 2019.”
 
“Since we introduced this bill in the last Congress, the humanitarian, political and economic crises in Venezuela have only metastasized,” said Leahy. “The Maduro regime, discredited and desperate, has worsened this crisis, which has already overwhelmed the ability of neighboring nations to help.  While millions of Venezuelans flee this turmoil, the United States must embrace our historic role as a safe haven for the oppressed and, at minimum, provide temporary refuge to those Venezuelans already here, until it is safe for them to return home.”
 
“Facing an ever growing economic and humanitarian crisis at the hands of a repressive government, millions of Venezuelans have fled their homes to countries throughout the hemisphere,” said Booker. “Those who have sought shelter in the United States must not be forced to return to a country where basic food and medicine are scarce and fundamental freedoms are suppressed. This bill would provide refuge to innocent men, women, and children who have made it to our shores until it is safe for them to return to their communities.”
 
Representatives Darren Soto (D-FL) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced the companion bill in the House.
 
The full text of the bill can be found here.
 
 

RUBIO, MENÉNDEZ Y COLEGAS REINTRODUCEN LEGISLACIÓN SOBRE ESTATUS DE PROTECCIÓN TEMPORAL EN APOYO A LOS VENEZOLANOS DESPLAZADOS

Washington, DC – El senador estadounidense Marco Rubio (R-FL), Presidente del Subcomité de Relaciones Exteriores para el Hemisferio Occidental, Delincuencia Transnacional, Seguridad Civil, Democracia, Derechos Humanos y Asuntos Globales de la Mujer, junto a los senadores Bob Menéndez (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), y Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintrodujeron hoy la Ley de Estado de Protección Temporal y Asilo de Venezuela del 2019. La legislación bipartidista busca otorgar el Estatus de Protección Temporal a venezolanos elegibles, quienes huyen de las crisis de su país natal. El proyecto de ley también busca brindar apoyo a los sistemas migratorios en los países aledaños a Venezuela.

Establecido por el Congreso de los Estados Unidos, bajo la Ley de Inmigración del 1990, el Estado de Protección Temporal (TPS) es un programa temporal y renovable que brinda alivio a ser deportado y brinda acceso a un permiso de trabajo temporal para extranjeros de ciertos países que no pueden regresar a su país de forma segura debido a desastres naturales, conflictos armados, u otras condiciones extraordinarias.
“Mientras la narco-tiranía del régimen de Maduro sigue cometiendo actos criminales contra el pueblo venezolano, es evidente que las condiciones en el país justifican el otorgamiento de un estatado de protección temporal a los ciudadanos venezolanos que residen en los Estados Unidos,” Rubio dijo. “Esta solución temporal garantizará la seguridad de los venezolanos que se encuentran en los Estados Unidos mientras trabajamos con la comunidad internacional para apoyar al gobierno legítimo en su lucha por restaurar la democracia.”
 
“La escala de sufrimiento por la que atraviesan los venezolanos desafía la imaginación, y los Estados Unidos debe mostrar un liderazgo real para asegurar la protección de quienes se encuentran en nuestro país,” Menéndez dijo. “Optamos por usar este crítico momento — en donde contamos con un amplio apoyo para lograr una transición constitucional en Venezuela hacia la democracia — para presentar un proyecto de ley que protegerá temporalmente a familias Venezolanas elegibles en los Estados Unidos. El deportar a venezolanos a un país inmerso en tal tragedia seria decirles que son una carga para nuestras comunidades y una amenaza a nuestra seguridad nacional, algo que es completamente opuesto a la realidad y a nuestro interés nacional.”
 
Los representantes Darren Soto (D-FL) y Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) presentaron la legislación acompañante en la Cámara de Representantes.
 
El texto completo del proyecto de ley puede encontrarse aquí.