‘What do we do?’ Time running out for local Venezuelans in Raleigh who fled violence
Andrea would be able to take care of her friend’s cats, if she wasn’t worried about getting deported this fall.
“I don’t know if I can be in charge of the cats. I could, but I don’t know what’s going to happen after September,” said Andrea, a 28-year-old Venezuelan living in Raleigh.
Soon, Andrea — who asked The News & Observer not to use her last name to protect her identity — will be one of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States who will lose the Temporary Protected Status that lets them live and work legally here.
Her best friend, the cats’ owner, will lose her protection in April now that the Trump Administration rescinded the protection program for Venezuelans.
If they are deported back to Venezuela, they will leave the safe lives they’ve built, and their adored pets, behind.
“What do we do? We’re just up in the air,” Andrea said.
On Feb. 5, the Trump Administration announced that Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for over 348,000 Venezuelan immigrants will end April 7. TPS is only granted to migrants from countries experiencing civil unrest or violence, natural disasters or other crises.
The rest of the roughly 600,000 TPS holders from Venezuela, including Andrea, will lose their status in September.
The protection was granted under the Biden Administration in 2021 and 2023 due to the country’s economic collapse under President Nicolás Maduro and the dangers to those who opposed him. Maduro is currently serving a third term after last year’s election, despite evidence that he lost.
Migrants from the country in the United States were able to apply in 2021 for 18-month protection with renewal in 2023 when other nationals could apply.
In its reversal, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said conditions in Venezuela have improved enough for people to return and that it was “contrary to the national interest” to allow Venezuelan nationals to continue to live and work in the United States.
However, Andrea, who applied for TPS in 2021, said her family in Venezuela still rarely leaves their house. The United Nations recently presented findings of human rights violations by the Venezuelan government and armed groups.
“They don’t go out, they always fear. We don’t know who’s next or if there is safety,” she said. “If we get deported, we could be treated as traitors. They’re saying that Venezuela is good now, but that is totally a lie.”
Fearful of returning home
Andrea was 21 when she fled her homeland in 2018 and came to live with a cousin in Raleigh.
As a college student, she participated in Movimiento Estudiantil, a student-led protest movement that formed in 2007 in opposition to then-President Hugo Chavez. Many demonstrations became violent, she said, and many of her peers were assaulted, tortured and murdered in the fight. Last year, after the re-election of Maduro, 25 people were killed in protests and 2,500 others were arrested, according to the United Nations.
“Unfortunately, there is no freedom of speech, there is no freedom to post on social media. There’s no human rights,” Andrea said. “We’ve lived for many years in fear to speak out, and if we speak out, we just get hurt.”
Andrea was hoping she had more time in Raleigh and that the situation in her home country would become safer. As an intake specialist for a company in Wake County, she has built a life here over the past seven years with supportive friends and neighbors and a steady income.
“I don’t speak to many people about my status because I don’t want to feel judged,” she said. “Sometimes I feel judged for my accent. I don’t know if someone is going to be a good person or just nice to me.”
Like many immigrants, Andrea said she never wants to be seen as someone who is taking advantage of resources or other people and doesn’t think immigrants should be viewed that way.
“I want to prove to people that we can do anything,” she said. “We don’t want to be dependent on someone.”
Patricia Parada, the founder of Casa Venezuela North Carolina, a non-profit assisting Venezuelans, said the lack of clear information about the removal of TPS causes most of the “collective panic and anxiety.”
“On the other hand, a wave of xenophobia as been generated that worsens the situation and this generates another reason to be afraid,” Parada said. She moved to the United States from Venezuela 10 years ago with her husband searching for protection and security. In her home country, she was an activist.
She isn’t a TPS holder but said she is most concerned about people having to return to Venezuela and becoming victims of Maduro’s regime and “possible unjust imprisonment, torture or death in the event of a forced return.”
“Venezuela remains insecure at all levels, with political, social, economic and humanitarian crisis being the daily reality,” she said. “The fear of returning is cause by the high probability of being subjected to political persecution.”
Parada and other Venezuelans are petitioning the Trump administration to reconsider their TPS decision.
How TPS is granted, other options for migrants
People granted TPS must re-register for it since the status only lasts for 18 months, said Kaci Bishop, a law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and the director of the school’s Immigration Clinic.
Once a country is designated by the United States, nationals seeking protection must be in the country by a certain date and then apply for the benefits. They must meet certain criteria, including not having a criminal background. If granted TPS, they get a work permit and are temporarily immune from being removed from the country.
“The Secretary, in evaluating TPS, has to re-evaluate the situation by looking at a country’s conditions and decide whether things have changed to the extent that it is no longer necessary to provide this sort of protection, as is the case with Venezuela,” Bishop said.
But there is hope for some Venezuelans. If they are married to a U.S. citizen, their spouse can petition for them through family-based applications. Some employers can also petition to keep foreign-born workers in certain circumstances.
“Many Venezuelans who are here applied for asylum and have pending applications. Those may still be in process,” Bishop said. “They will have to prove that they face persecution based on their religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership to a particular group.”
Other options include applying for Withholding of Removal, a form of protection that prevents the U.S. from deporting someone who will be persecuted, or Relief under the Convention Against Torture, another protection that prevents the U.S. from deporting someone who might be tortured.
“So there’s other options; there’s just not very many options many people fall into,” Bishop said.
Anabel Rosa, a lawyer and legal counsel for El Centro Hispano, a nonprofit helping the Latino community in the Triangle, told The N&O that dozens of people have contacted the organization worried about their rights.
“[Venezuelans] should be meeting with immigration attorneys,” Rosa said. “The advice I have would be to have as many consultations as you need to have with someone who might be able to tell you what other options you might have.”
For now, Andrea said she is trying to say upbeat and informed.
“It’s not fair that they cancel these protections,” she said. “I hope that the government rethinks about this. They have to have a second look.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 8:11 AM.