Frantically, Vilca Colmenares-Jaspe searched for a way out. The bruises on her body were a painful reminder of the threats she had faced from criminals who wanted to extort her and a government that sought to silence her. Venezuela’s political climate was becoming more dangerous by the day. Staying was no longer an option.
In 2017, she fled Maracay, leaving behind everything she had built for 33 years. Like many Venezuelans escaping political persecution, she sought refuge in the U.S., hoping to start over. For years, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) gave her that security. But now, that protection is being stripped away.
For many Venezuelans like Colmenares-Jaspe who are in the U.S. on TPS, uncertainty and fear define this moment. The possibility of being forced to return to a country that shows no resemblance oto home— where they faced persecution, extortion, and violence—feels like a nightmare becoming reality.
“It’s terrifying, first of all, because we’ve built a safe life here,” Colmenares-Jaspe said. “I truly felt secure—for myself and for my daughters. Being deported means arriving in Venezuela and not knowing what will happen to you.”
Under Venezuelan law, those who fled could face serious consequences. “Automatically, you are considered guilty of treason, which carries a sentence of six months in prison. It’s literally a life-threatening situation,” she said.
She is one of nearly 600,000 Venezuelans who could face deportation as early as April 7 after the Trump administration abruptly canceled TPS for them—more than a year earlier than the original expiration date set under the Biden administration.
“People didn’t expect this to happen now, because the conditions in Venezuela haven’t improved,” said Washington, D.C and Maryland immigration attorney Gustavo Marin-Garcia.
Even though some Venezuelans supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, Florida officials are urging his administration to reconsider the cancellation. U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) warned that law-abiding Venezuelans should not be unfairly penalized alongside criminals.
On Tuesday, the Miami-Dade County Commission implored the administration to reverse its decision. The move comes despite the county’s overwhelming support for Trump—he won Miami-Dade by 11 points and in Doral, home to the state’s largest Venezuelan community, where he took 61 percent of the vote.
“We might begin to see some effect on the economy in South Florida because TPS holders are legally allowed to work—they are part of the economy,” Marin-Garcia said. With their legal work status at risk, businesses that rely on Venezuelan labor could face significant setbacks.
Trump flipped 10 municipalities from blue to red and improved his margins in nearly every part of Miami-Dade County this past election. It was a resounding win in a county that last supported a GOP presidential candidate in 1988.
However, the Venezuelans most impacted by the TPS cancellation are not the ones who voted for Trump, Marin-Garcia said. “Obviously, Venezuelan people who support [Trump] are U.S. citizens, because they are the only people who have the right to vote. They are not affected by the decision…but they have family, relatives, that are being affected by the decision.”
The administration has defended the cancellation, citing concerns about Venezuelan criminal groups like Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization linked to human tracking, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, and drug smuggling, according to the U.S Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
But Marin-Garcia says deportation won’t solve the issue. “Venezuela doesn’t have the conditions to receive criminals,” he said. “They don’t even have the conditions to receive a regular Venezuelan, let alone criminals. The government will only use them to its advantage, as they always do.”
