MIAMI — In Venezuela, Cecilia was a veteran government worker who loved working in the tax department and training future generations of civil servants. But she opposed Nicolás Maduro’s government, she says, and assisted the local opposition from the shadows. When a pro-Maduro paramilitary group saw her at a protest, they began stalking her outside her home and on the streets.

Cecilia’s teenage daughter fled to South Florida in April 2018 after the so-called colectivos and the National Guard assaulted her. Cecilia followed eight months later, after finishing treatment for breast cancer and hiding out in family members’ homes.

When the Biden administration granted deportation protections and work permits to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in 2021, Cecilia had already applied for asylum. But Temporary Protected Status was a welcome relief.

“It’s like when it rains and you have boots and a poncho. It’s another layer of protection for your immigration process,” she said.

Unless a court intervenes, those protections are now set to disappear in just a few days for Cecilia and hundreds of thousands of other Venezuelans living in the United States. President Donald Trump set the TPS protection to end on its original expiration date on Sept. 10, after rolling back a Biden-era extension through October 2026. The decision, coupled with others targeting Venezuelan immigrants, leaves scores of people to face an uncertain future, particularly in South Florida, home to the largest number of TPS recipients in the entire country.

In South Florida, Cecilia – whom the Miami Herald is identifying by her middle name because she is afraid she’ll be kidnapped or disappeared in Venezuela if deported – has continued working in public service. She’s a hotline operator who connects the recently arrived to social services and helps immigrants do their taxes. She recently bought a home in the Homestead area and aspires to become a financial coach that helps vulnerable communities develop financial literacy. But the possibility of being sent back to a country where she fears her life is at risk has weighed heavily on her mind since President Donald Trump began his second term.

“There’s no justice system over there.There is too much risk of ending up in the dungeons,” she said.

Since 2015, over 7 million people have left Venezuela. Many landed in Florida, where 57% of TPS recipients are Venezuelan.

Wednesday’s announcement sets the expectation that, barring a judge’s intervention, about 253,000 Venezuelans will lose their TPS protections by Sept. 10. The decision follows an action by the Trump administration in February to strip another 352,000 Venezuelans of their protected status, granted in 2023, based on the argument that it wasn’t in American interests to keep the program in place.

“We have paid our taxes, we have maintained a completely clean record, and we have worked hard to move forward,” said Carlos Briceño, a TPS beneficiary and project manager in the roofing industry who came to Miami from Venezuela nearly a decade ago. He’s the father of eight-year-old twins, born here. “We have two American daughters who are extremely worried.”

A fierce legal battle

Congress created Temporary Protected Status in 1990 for nationals of countries in turmoil, like ongoing wars or natural disasters. To be eligible, people must already be in the United States before a certain cutoff date, be fingerprinted, have no felonies on record and pass background checks.

President Joe Biden granted Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela in 2021, citing the acute poverty, economic contraction, repressive governance, human rights abuses, collapsing infrastructure, inadequate health care, widespread crime, food insecurity and lack of basic services in the country. In 2023, he expanded the designation so more Venezuelans could qualify for the benefit.

But only days after Trump’s return to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security announced that “notable improvements” in areas like the economy, public health, and crime made it possible for Venezuelans to be safely returned to their home country. However, the Trump administration has said it’s too dangerous for Americans to go there. A “Do not travel” advisory from the State Department warns of wrongful detentions, kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, and more.

The National Alliance, along with several TPS recipients from Venezuela, sued the Trump administration in San Francisco after it first announced it would end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans under the 2023 designation in February. In March, federal judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California issued a preliminary order upholding TPS for the group, whose protections were set to expire in April, and restored TPS for Venezuelans until October 2026. Chen wrote in his decision that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had made “sweeping negative generalizations” when ending Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status, and described “acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype” as a “classic example of racism.”

The Trump administration submitted an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the case. The nation’s highest court ruled in May that the administration could end TPS but did not stop ongoing litigation or weigh in on the merits of Chen’s case However, the Supreme Court decision left the vast majority of Venezuelans under the 2023 designation without any TPS protections. Last week, an appeals court affirmed Chen’s authority, upheld his March order and ruled that Homeland Security had improperly ended the protections.

Advocates and TPS holders told the Herald they never expected a positive decision from the Trump administration, and had expected Noem to end the protections altogether. Homeland Security said that it had weighed public safety, national security, migration patterns and other factors, and concluded the deportation protections for Venezuelans did not benefit the United States. A DHS spokesperson said TPS had a “clear magnet effect” for Venezuelans, though people who come after designation cut-off dates cannot benefit from TPS.

Now, the fate of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans depends on how Chen rules on the case.

“We’re waiting on that decision to come out any time now,” said Jose Palma, co-coordinator and spokesperson of the National TPS Alliance.

Over the last year, the Trump administration has also moved to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, Nicaragua, and Honduras — all countries whose difficult conditions on the ground have led to the settlement of sizable immigrant communities in South Florida.

“We’re talking about long-term contributors to our community who are being targeted. It’s deeply concerning,” said Sui Chung, executive director for Miami-based Americans for Immigrant Justice.

'An existential crisis'

To understand how the Trump administration’s posture toward Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans is playing out in South Florida, the Herald spoke with attorneys, advocates and immigrants, several of whom asked that their names be withheld for fear of persecution.

David — who asked to be identified by his first name because of the delicate situation with TPS in the United States and the possibility of repercussions in Venezuela — came to the United States in February 2021 to visit friends and family in the United States on a tourist visa. While he was here, Biden issued the first TPS designation for Venezuela. A long-time engineering professor, David said he decided to stay. In South Florida, he could give his 15-year-old daughter a better education and a brighter future.

David, who works in the tourism industry, said he understands why Trump wants to crack down on irregular immigration. But he told the Herald that there are hard-working professionals getting tangled in the wider immigration enforcement net his administration has cast for immigration enforcement. Already, the Miami resident said he’s been having difficulties renewing his license, which is vital for his job. Ahead of the expiration of his TPS next week, he fears being separated from his daughter, who has a pathway to permanent residency and is applying.

“Please give us another opportunity, evaluate who is doing things wrong and who is doing things right in this country. And those who are doing things right want to continue contributing to society and to the world,” he told the Herald. “Los buenos somos más.” The good people are the majority.

_____

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.