Over the weekend, more than 250 alleged criminals were deported from the US and arrived in El Salvador. Most were Venezuelan migrants accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua, a violent transnational gang.
The administration’s decisions stirred anxiety within the Venezuelan community in South Florida. Many of them supported former President Donald Trump’s policies on deporting gang members but now fear they could be unfairly grouped with criminals.
Carol Durán Pérez, a member of the South Florida Venezuelan community, was one of many who cheered when Trump was elected in 2016, particularly because of his hardline stance on immigration. Durán Pérez supported Trump’s promise to crack down on violent Venezuelan criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua.
Durán Pérez, who had lived in the U.S. for years, said she believed many in the Venezuelan community shared her support for Trump’s policies.
However, Durán Pérez didn’t expect Trump’s immigration policies to impact her life in such a personal way. She was one of many Venezuelan immigrants who were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under the Biden administration. But with Trump’s decision to revoke TPS for all Venezuelans, her status—and that of many others—was thrown into uncertainty.
“This was a hard blow because, practically the same day he took office, he went against Venezuelans,” Durán Pérez said. “It seemed personal.”
Durán Pérez is not alone in her frustration. The city of Doral, often referred to as “Doralzuela,” is home to the largest concentration of Venezuelan immigrants in the United States, approximately 27,000 individuals.
“We have doctors, engineers, baseball players, musicians,” Ros-Ana Guillen, an immigration lawyer. “We have a beautiful community. They came here legally. They pay taxes, they contribute to our economy.”
Guillen and others argue that the Trump administration made a mistake by revoking TPS for everyone and lumping all Venezuelans together with the criminal gangs. Vice Mayor Maureen Porras of Doral echoed this sentiment.
“Without that community, I think Doral will cease to be what it is,” said Porras. “We’re going to turn into a city that is going to lose a lot of its residents.”
A group of Venezuelan immigrants is currently suing the Trump administration, arguing that the decision to revoke TPS was illegal for multiple reasons. As legal battles continue, the future of Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. remains uncertain, with many questioning whether they will have to face the consequences of policies that they did not anticipate.
