Biden administration to grant temporary amnesty to Venezuelan refugees

The White House is looking to make a decision furthering the debate surrounding the status of Venezuelans currently in the US. It’s a story first unveiled by the Los Angeles Times this morning. They claim they got confirmation from two Senate offices about the announcement.

This afternoon Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas unveiled an official Temporary Protected Status decree. The labeling gives the US government the authority to provide “provisional humanitarian protection” to Venezuelans currently residing here.

Per CBS: "The designation is due to the extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela, which is one of the statutory bases for it,” a senior White House official told reporters. “Because of conditions there, it is not safe for Venezuelans to return."

This comes among the backdrop of Arizona border officials raising the alarm about a spike in border crossings “outnumbering past three years combined.” Senator Tom Cotton followed suit in an interview on Fox News, describing the Biden administration’s immigration policies as if he was actively encouraging as many people as possible to hop the border.

He called it the Biden border crisis.

The official TPS document is set to be published on the Federal Register tomorrow, March 9th. “Through this notice, DHS is establishing procedures for individuals covered by DED for Venezuela to apply for employment authorization through July 20, 2022.”

Bottom line of the TPS decree being that Venezuelans will be legally safe with regards to US immigration enforcement.

During the Trump administration tensions escalated between the former President and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. However in his final days, Trump blocked the deportation of thousands of Venezuelans, and imposed new sanctions against the country.

This new action from the Biden administration is in line with other moves from the Biden Administration over the past several days. Including ICE’s ending of long-term family detention centers and allowing child migrant shelters to hit 100% capacity, actively disregarding the CDC’s warning about the threat of COVID in doing so.