Connect with us

News

'Beyond betrayal.' Venezuelans in Florida are angry at Trump immigration policy

Published

on

'Beyond betrayal.' Venezuelans in Florida are angry at Trump immigration policy

Venezuelan community leaders speak to the media as they protest against the suspension of Temporary Protected Status in Doral, Florida, on Monday. The Trump administration is terminating an immigration program that currently protects hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. from deportation.

Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

MIAMI — Venezuelan migrants in South Florida say they feel betrayed by a Trump administration decision to end legal protections for hundreds of thousands of people who fled dictatorships and sought refuge in the U.S.

New regulations scheduled to be published this week would end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 300,000 Venezuelans in early April. Protections for a second group of some 250,000 Venezuelans currently extended through September but now also seem likely to be removed.

The move by the Trump administration is a turnabout of a long-standing U.S. policy that has extended TPS to more than a half million Venezuelans. On NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she believed the designation had been abused. “Remember,” she said, “Venezuela purposely emptied out their prisons, emptied out their mental health facilities and sent them to the United States of America.”

Advertisement

Venezuelan-Americans say that’s simply not true

Venezuelans started migrating in large numbers to the U.S. in the 1980’s. The numbers surged in recent decades as people fled the political and economic turmoil of the authoritarian regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.

Nearly 400,000 people who left Venezuela now live in Florida. Adelys Ferro, the director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, says, “We are human beings who work here, who are small business owners.” Ferro says Venezuelans exiled here “actually believe that the TPS was the right way to get legal in the United States, to have our work permits, to have a social security number, to be able to buy a house.”

Florida’s largest Venezuelan population is in Doral, a Miami suburb. Ferro and other activists held a press event there Monday but didn’t want any TPS recipients to speak out. They were worried they could be targeted for deportation by federal immigration authorities.

Mariana Molero, 44, holds a Venezuelan flag with seven stars as she poses for a picture following a press conference by Venezuelan community leaders to denounce changes to the protections that shielded hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, including Molero, from deportation.

Mariana Molero, 44, holds a Venezuelan flag with seven stars as she poses for a picture following a press conference by Venezuelan community leaders to denounce changes to the protections that shielded hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, including Molero, from deportation.

Rebecca Blackwell/AP


hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Rebecca Blackwell/AP

In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump won the vote in Miami-Dade County, helped largely by the Hispanic vote, including naturalized Venezuelan-Americans. That’s one reason why Ferro and many others here say they’re shocked and disappointed. “Beyond betrayed,” she said. “They used us. During the campaign, the elected officials from the Republican Party, they actually told us that he was not going to touch the documented people. They said, ‘No, it is with undocumented people.’”

Advertisement

Carlos Pereira, a Venezuelan-American who lives in Doral, says many of his friends and neighbors are frantic about the impending policy change. “They’re frustrated,” he said. “They’re scared, they (take) cover, hide.” For them, he says eliminating TPS “would be a tragedy.”

Noem noted in the draft rule that it’s not in American national interests to permit the Venezuelans to remain in the U.S. That broad determination may be worrying not just to Venezuelans, but also to people from Haiti, Nicaragua and more than a dozen other countries that currently have temporary protected status.

The decision to remove TPS comes as a Trump administration official has been meeting with Maduro, negotiating the release of several American hostages. Pereira wonders why Republican members of Congress, long-time supporters of Democratic rule in Venezuela, aren’t criticizing the decision to negotiate with the authoritarian regime. In the past, he says, “They always speak very hard against the Maduro regime. Now because Papi Trump is negotiating with Maduro, they close their mouth?”

Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart who represents Doral says he’s watching the negotiations closely for any signs of concessions by Trump. He says the President has to be “very careful.” Diaz-Balart says he opposes Trump’s removal of TPS for Venezuelans and hopes people can be granted asylum on a case-by-case basis.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Immigration poll shows growing support for restrictions, but deep divisions remain

Published

on

Immigration poll shows growing support for restrictions, but deep divisions remain

Members of the U.S. Marine Corps patrol the U.S.-Mexico border area as seen from San Diego on Feb. 7.

Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Americans are deeply divided when it comes to the details of President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.

The poll shows growing approval for restrictions on immigration, like expanding the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And a plurality of respondents say they support Trump’s call for mass deportation of all immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status.

But at the same time, the White House’s most dramatic moves — detaining migrants at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, pushing to end birthright citizenship for all children born in the U.S. and allowing immigration authorities to make arrests in schools and churches — are broadly unpopular with Democrats and independents, even as they’ve been welcomed by most Republicans.

Advertisement

“Americans on the whole may be more supportive of immigration restrictions in theory,” said Mallory Newall, a vice president at Ipsos, which conducted the poll for NPR. But in practice, she says, “there’s still not a lot of agreement about what that looks like.”

Immigration often ranks as a bigger concern for Republican voters than for others, and this poll is no exception: 47% of Republicans describe immigration as a top issue, compared with 19% of independents and only 9% of Democrats.

Overall, 23% of poll respondents ranked immigration as a top-tier issue — a larger share than in previous polls but still lagging far behind the top concern, “inflation and increasing costs,” at 47%.

The president’s supporters have largely welcomed his first steps to restrict illegal and legal immigration. In the Trump administration’s first weeks, it has ramped up arrests of immigrants without legal status, suspended admissions of refugees and asylum-seekers at the southern border and rolled back legal protections for more than a million recent migrants from South and Central America.

Advertisement

Nearly 1 in 3 poll respondents said that recent restrictions on immigration “go too far,” while a similar proportion (29%) said the restrictions “do not go far enough.”

For the most part, Republicans stand united behind the White House’s immigration agenda. Three out of 4 support denying federal funds to sanctuary cities that limit their cooperation with immigration authorities; nearly as many back using the U.S. military to arrest and detain immigrants without legal status.

Four out of 5 Republicans support deporting all immigrants without legal status and characterize the record numbers of recent migrant encounters at the southern border as an invasion.

“So as far as I’m concerned, that was an invasion. It was not an armed invasion, certainly, but it was an invasion,” said poll respondent Thomas Dunkelberger, a longtime Republican voter from western Michigan, in a follow-up interview. “And that’s got to stop. We can’t afford it as a people.”

But the poll shows that some Trump voters have doubts about his immigration policies.

Advertisement

“I think he’s done a good job because we definitely do need to close the borders,” said poll respondent Maria Rose Pawlyk in a follow-up interview.

Still, Pawlyk worries that the White House is cutting off legal pathways for refugees and other immigrants who deserve humanitarian protections. And she does not support deporting all of the estimated 12 million immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status.

“There’s no easy answer to it,” said Pawlyk, who considers herself a political independent and says she voted for Trump. “You can’t just give a blanket statement of saying deport everyone, ’cause you can’t.”

Perhaps none of Trump’s executive actions has met with more opposition than his push to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants who don’t have permanent legal status in the United States.

According to this poll, less than a third of Americans support that proposal, which has been blocked for the moment by several federal judges.

Advertisement

“It just seems like a fundamental right,” said poll respondent Morgan McGee, a Democratic voter from southwest Louisiana. “If you are born here, regardless of where you came from, you should be a U.S. citizen. Like, that is just the end of it, you know?”

The White House’s push to detain immigrants without legal status at the U.S. naval station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is also unpopular. Only 36% of poll respondents approved, although the idea is much more popular with Republicans.

The poll also reveals some broader shifts in public opinion about immigration over time.

When NPR and Ipsos began asking about building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, only 38% of Americans supported the idea. That figure has gradually grown over time, to nearly half in our latest poll.

Advertisement

At the same time, support for DREAMers — immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children — has steadily declined. Seven years ago, nearly two-thirds of Americans favored giving them legal status. Now, that figure has declined to less than half for the first time.

“That, to me, is telling of the overall mood that the country is in right now,” said Newall, of Ipsos.

“But many of these newer proposals being pushed by the administration are a bridge too far. Yes, they are supported by the Republican base. But they are not supported by the American public,” she said.

The NPR/Ipsos poll was conducted from Feb. 7 to 10, 2025, with a sample of 1,013 adults online. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for all respondents.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Donald Trump Jr invests in ‘steroid Olympics’

Published

on

Donald Trump Jr invests in ‘steroid Olympics’

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Donald Trump’s son has backed a proposed sports event for athletes using performance enhancing drugs as the US president shakes up health policy and sports governance.

The Enhanced Games, dubbed by critics as the “steroid Olympics”, announced on Thursday that Donald Trump Jr’s venture fund 1789 Capital would co-lead an investment round for the sports group.

The vision for the games is to allow athletes in the competition to use almost any legally available performance enhancing drugs in an effort to break world records. One person close to the deal said the fundraising round would raise double digit millions of dollars for the project.

Advertisement

“For over 100 years, elites in charge of global sports have stifled innovation, crushed individual greatness, and refused to let athletes push the limits of what’s possible. That ends now,” said Trump Jr.

“The Enhanced Games represent the future — real competition, real freedom, and real records being smashed.”

​The Trump administration​ has championed an unorthodox agenda on drugs and health policy, driven by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Trump Jr is seen as a close adviser to his father but does not hold a formal position in the administration.

The games have already received financial support from tech investor Peter Thiel, another figure with close ties to the White House, crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan and Christian Angermayer, a German financier who is a leading investor in commercial psychedelics.

Aron D’Souza, president of the Enhanced Games, said: “We’re building something revolutionary — sports without hypocrisy, where the best can actually be the best.”

Advertisement

The Enhanced Games have yet to announce a host city or date for the competition. The games would include athletics, swimming, and “strength” events, although only one athlete, retired Australian Olympic team member James Magnussen, has enlisted in the games.

The Enhanced Games have emphasised the scientific grounding and pioneering nature of the contest. It has promised athletes they will receive comprehensive medical testing and supervision. 

D’Souza told the FT that the games would be partly funded by advertising by pharmaceutical and biotech firms.

Former president Joe Biden’s White House issued a statement condemning the Enhanced Games last year. Both the World Anti-Doping Association and the International Olympic Committee have also expressed concerns about the games. 

“D’Souza believes that data collected from chemically boosted Enhanced Games athletes might help his billionaire investors live longer and richer lives,” said John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Austin who has authored several books on the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Advertisement

The Trump Jr endorsement of the Enhanced Games comes at a time when the US is at loggerheads with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The US last year accused Wada of failing to conduct a proper investigation into allegations of doping rule breaches by 23 Chinese swimmers in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics.

China’s own doping watchdog said the swimmers were accidentally exposed to a banned heart drug by a chef working in a hotel kitchen. The athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics, with some going on to win medals.

An independent prosecutor appointed by Wada found no evidence of wrongdoing in the body’s handling of the case. The incident came to light last year following investigations by the New York Times and German TV channel ARD.

The US, the biggest government contributor to Wada funding, withheld a $3.6mn payment due late last year.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions

Published

on

Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions

Vladimir Putin’s initial plan to capture Ukraine in a few days ended in disaster. But after Donald Trump set up direct peace talks with Moscow, bypassing Kyiv and European allies, the Russian president is now closer than ever to getting what he wanted from his three-year-long invasion.

Putin’s main ambition, said people who have spoken to him during the war, is to establish a new security architecture that gives Russia a sphere of influence in Europe — much as the Yalta conference did for the Soviet Union at the end of the second world war.

Now, the US may be open to letting him have it. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed Ukraine’s aspirations to join Nato and reclaim its territory from Russia. Putin and Trump discussed “bilateral economic co-operation”, suggesting that the US was prepared to roll back its sanctions against Moscow.

And Trump appears intent on rolling back the US’s commitment to Nato and leaving to European countries the job of sustaining a peace.

“The situation looks much more favourable for Putin than at any point during the entire war over the last three years,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. “If the US just unilaterally ends its military and diplomatic support, as well as intelligence sharing, then Ukraine will be in a very tough position. And it’ll be hard to get out of it even if the Europeans get more involved.”

Advertisement

In Moscow, there was palpable joy following Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin.

“A single call can change the course of history — today, the leaders of the US and Russia have possibly opened a door to a future shaped by co-operation, not confrontation,” said Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian sovereign wealth fund chief involved in back-channel talks with the US over prisoner exchanges.

Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta conference in 1945 © Keystone/Getty Images

The call marked a dramatic about-face from US policy under Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, who pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” while working with other western countries to isolate Russia. Now, the US has said victory on Ukraine’s terms is not “realistic” — a shift that Moscow hailed as a return to reason.

“Finally, the Americans are taking things seriously without the pointless illusions they have been feeding to the Ukrainians since the start of the war. It’s common sense. And a chance to stop the war,” said a former senior Russian official.

“Putin rid himself of any illusions three days in,” when Russia realised its plans for a blitzkrieg victory had failed, the former official added. “But the Europeans and Americans have been under them ever since, and they’re only starting to see sense now.”

Advertisement

Senior Ukrainian and western officials said Trump and Putin would probably try to secure a ceasefire by one of two significant upcoming dates: Easter, which the Orthodox and Catholic churches will both celebrate on April 20 this year; or May 9, when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

“Putin will want [a deal] on a notable day like this,” said a Ukrainian official.

Russian soldiers fire towards Ukrainian positions
Russian soldiers fire towards Ukrainian positions on February 4 © Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP
Konstantin Malofeyev
Konstantin Malofeyev was one of pro-war hardliners who welcomed the recent developments © Bloomberg

In Moscow, markets reacted with glee. The rouble strengthened 5 per cent against the dollar and Moscow’s main exchange index rose 2.8 per cent to its highest level in nine months.

Pro-war hardliners hailed the call as a sign that Russia’s victory was at hand.

“It must really hurt for the EU and Ukraine to hear this. But their opinion doesn’t matter any more,” said Konstantin Malofeyev, a conservative tycoon who runs several Russian volunteer units fighting in Ukraine. “Ukraine is just the pretext for a grand dialogue between two great countries about the start of a new era in human history.”

Putin told Trump he wanted to “settle the reasons for the conflict”, indicating that Russia has not dropped its goal of stopping Ukraine’s ambitions to join the west and rolling back the post-cold war security order.

Advertisement

Moscow is also demanding that Ukraine cede control over four partly occupied south-eastern regions, none of which Russia fully controls, and expects the west to end all sanctions over the war.

Since Russia holds the upper hand on the battlefield, Putin could choose to continue the war if Trump does not agree to all his demands, said Dmitry Trenin, a research professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

“Russia is serious about the need to solve the Ukraine issue. It is not suing for peace. It knows that the only guarantees it can rely on are those it can provide itself,” Trenin said. “A deal that falls short of Russia’s vital security requirements would only guarantee that there will be another war soon. Russia will not permit that.”

He added: “The fighting will not stop with the start of the talks; and if there is no deal, it will go on.”

Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.

Advertisement

Notably, the delegation Trump appointed to negotiate with Russia does not include his own envoy on the conflict, Keith Kellogg, who had been the most outspoken US official calling to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow and maintain arms supplies to Ukraine.

“It suggests the administration is not going to take Ukraine’s core concerns seriously,” said a former senior US official. “Putin would have seen that as an endorsement of his view of the world and a step towards realising his dream of having really deep friction between the US and Europe.”

Trump’s drive to end the war quickly has blindsided Ukraine. Kyiv had hoped it could convince Trump to work out a common position on bringing Russia to the table, and had offered access to its reserves of rare earth metals in return for US support.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Financial Times it had been “a challenge” to develop close relationships with Trump’s team and admitted it would “take time” before they can build the same type of relationship they had with those in the Biden administration.

For now, Kyiv and its European allies are looking on, aghast, from the outside, fearful the US will strike an unfavourable deal to end the war with Putin — and stick them with the bill.

“Trump is proving to be as bad as we feared. He is willing to make a deal with Putin at the expense of Ukraine, and still wants Ukraine to pay him in mineral resources,” said Volodymyr Kulyk, a professor of political science at the Kyiv School of Economics. “The question is, what Ukraine and Europe will do.”

Advertisement

Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Berlin and Daria Mosolova in London

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending