Soto, Wasserman Schultz Demand Answers on Trump's Venezuela TPS Reversal, Secret Talks with Maduro Regime

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Reps. Darren Soto (FL-09) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) led several Democratic colleagues in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem denouncing the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to abandon the extension of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela established under the Biden Administration earlier this month. The letter was signed by Florida Reps. Kathy Castor (FL-14), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), and Frederica Wilson (FL-24), as well as senior Congressional Hispanic Caucus Reps. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Lou Correa (CA-46), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), and Linda Sanchez (CA-38).

“Given Venezuela’s increased instability, repression, and lack of safety, and within all applicable rules and regulations, we demand more information on why the Department has made this decision,” the Members said in the letter. “The only justification that has been offered by the Administration is the false claim that all Venezuelans are ‘dirt bags’, 'violent criminals', or the 'worst of the worst'.”

Several outlets have reported that the Administration is considering an agreement to preserve sanctions loopholes, which allow companies like Chevron and the Maduro regime to jointly profit from the sale of Venezuelan oil, in exchange for allowing the mass deportation of Venezuelan TPS recipients in the U.S. 

The Members criticized the Trump Administration for negotiating a “corrupt bargain with Maduro,” citing secret meetings between Trump-appointed Special Envoy Richard Grenell and the Maduro regime and demanding a briefing on the matter.

“Returning Venezuelan immigrants to a dictatorship that engages in torture, extrajudicial murder, and systematic abuse of human rights would be a death sentence for many of our friends and neighbors,” stated the Members. “This is particularly irresponsible after the Administration unilaterally cut off all funding in support of democracy, civil society, and humanitarian purposes for Venezuelans.”

Read the entire letter here.

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