Chicago City Wire

WASHINGTON, DC – On June 9, Representatives Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04)  and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) sent a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur Jaddou urging the Biden administration to expeditiously utilize its statutory authority to redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan nationals who have been continuously residing or physically present in the United States since May 2023.

“Venezuela is currently in the midst of an unprecedented social, economic, and humanitarian collapse that has resulted in over 7 million Venezuelans fleeing the country since 2015,” stated the Members.

“The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has categorized the situation in Venezuela as the ‘largest external displacement crisis in the world,’ second only to Ukraine. These immigrant families have continually fled escalating violence, economic insecurity, malnutrition, and absences of medicine and essential services in Venezuela, brought about by what economists from Harvard University and the International Monetary Fund have described as the ‘single largest economic collapse outside of war in [over 40] years,” they continued.

“In light of this ongoing reality, our letter encourages the administration to protect displaced Venezuelan families residing in the U.S. by redesignating Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status,” the Members concluded.

Click here to read the letter urging TPS redesignation for Venezuela its entirety. 

Original source can be found here.