ORLANDO, Fla. – The U.S. Supreme Court recently paved the way for the Trump administration to end temporary protected status (TPS) for Venezuelans.
Despite the decision, local TPS recipients and Venezuelan advocates say the fight is not over.
TPS is a form of humanitarian relief that allows people from countries deemed unsafe due to civil strife or environmental disasters to live and work in the U.S.
In February, Cecilia Gonzalez joined the ACLU and other organizations in suing the Trump administration over its decision to repeal TPS for about 600,000 Venezuelans, including herself.
“It felt like the right thing to do,” Gonzalez said. “They did not follow administrative procedure.”
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On Monday, the Supreme Court lifted a federal judge’s ruling that paused the administration’s plans.
“Being quite honest, it is devastating,” she said. “What does it mean? I think is still quite too early to determine all the implications it will have. We all know that the implications will be terrible, because the people from 2023 cohort who are going to be immediately impacted, their work authorizations will be invalid.”
Getting these protections for Venezuelans was a fight that started right in Orlando. Casa de Venezuela, an advocacy group, was involved from the beginning until TPS was granted in 2021. Despite this setback, its founder, William Diaz, says they are not giving up.
“We’re not going to do nothing against the law, but we’re ready to fight for it no matter what,” Diaz said. “We’re going to be fighting for it.”
On X, the Department of Homeland Security called the decision a “Win for the American people and the safety of our communities.” However, Diaz argues this will hurt those who are not committing crimes but are contributing to society.
“Not one single person that is in this country under TPS or humanitarian parole has a criminal record because the condition to approve TPS or humanitarian parole was to do a screening, a background check,” he said.
As people like Gozalez are left in limbo, she emphasized that they will not stop trying to reinstate TPS or to find a path to citizenship.
“The attorneys are getting together to prep what is going to be the response in lower courts, and I hope to continue that the legal battle,” Gonzalez explained.
“We understand that TPS was always meant to be temporary, and we do need to find comprehensive, long-lasting immigration solutions. We are fully aware that we are just victims of the broken immigration system, but it shouldn’t be that way.”