Venezuela Can Be a Model for Concluding Temporary Immigration in the U.S.

The U.S. arrest and removal of Socialist Narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela opens the door for several positive outcomes for the U.S., Americans, Venezuela, and our western hemisphere.

Assuming new, democratic leadership emerges in Venezuela and any remnants of Maduro’s regime are shut out of power, U.S. national interests will be enhanced by fewer drugs—including fentanyl—pouring into the U.S. and the destabilization of U.S. adversaries in our hemisphere, including Cuba, China, Russia, and Iran.

U.S. national interests also greatly benefit from the departure and removal of Venezuelan nationals—the good and the bad—who came to the U.S.

With respect to immigration, we could see Venezuela become the model for concluding temporary immigration to the U.S.

Let’s start with the undesirables who came here from Venezuela.

Declassified reports state the Maduro regime facilitated the illegal immigration of dangerous gang members into the U.S., including Tren de Aragua (TdA)—a Venezuelan prison gang—to destabilize American governments and undermine public safety.

The Venezuelan convicted of murdering Laken Riley—a Georgia nursing student—appears to have been affiliated with Tren de Aragua. So were the two killers of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year old girl from Houston.

These Venezuelan murderers Illegally entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, which encountered them and released them, along with millions of other inadmissible aliens, into our country.

The Tren de Aragua gang took over hotels and apartment buildings in New York City and Aurora, Colo., terrorizing American citizens.

The Trump administration has worked to deport Venezuelan criminals, including designating TdA and Maduro’s Cartel de los Soles as foreign terrorist organizations,  invoking the Alien Enemies Act regarding the “invasion of the U.S. by TdA.”  

Maduro periodically rejected accepting U.S. deportation flights to Venezuela.

When a foreign government rejects receipt of their own nationals, the U.S. must either find a third country to accept them or keep them in the U.S., undetained after a possible short detention.

With Maduro ousted, the Trump administration can consistently return Venezuelan deportees to their home country with a cooperating Venezuelan leadership. This would keep Americans safe from additional, preventable crimes committed by Venezuelan cartel and gang members.

In allowing millions of illegal aliens into the U.S., including over 907,000 Venezuelans, the Biden administration issued mass immigration parole based on nationality in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also unlawfully granted parolees work authorization.

The Trump administration terminated the unlawful Venezuelan immigration parole and work authorization, returning the recipients to their prior inadmissible and deportable status. ICE can likewise deport this population of inadmissible Venezuelans more easily without Maduro in power.

The Biden administration also designated Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2021, based on its political instability, human rights abuses, and economic crisis.

This allowed Venezuelans residing in the U.S. since March 2021 to apply for TPS and a work authorization. Biden extended TPS for another 18 months in 2022.

In 2023, the Biden administration both extended the 2021 TPS designation again and, in clear violation of the TPS statute, “redesignated” TPS for Venezuelans who had resided in the U.S. since July 2023.

 Redesignation is found nowhere in the Immigration and Nationality Act, yet many administrations—excluding either of the Trump administrations—redesignated TPS for multiple countries to allow larger populations of illegal aliens to remain in the U.S.

In its final days, the Biden administration published a Federal Register notice to extend its 2023 Venezuela TPS designation.

In 2025, however, the Trump administration announced the vacatur (court-ordered invalidation) of the Biden January 2025 extension decision for the 2023 designation.

Trump’s DHS also terminated Biden’s 2021 TPS designation.

Terminations of TPS have been the exception rather than the norm for decades.

Most country designations were extended as a default. Somalia has been designated and “redesignated” for over 34 years.

This is just one example of how permanent “temporary” TPS has become. It is a de facto amnesty in desperate need of congressional reform.

In the meantime, Venezuela’s TPS designation has rightly been terminated and, unless they have obtained other lawful immigration status, prior TPS holders should return to Venezuela.

With respect to asylum, it too can be temporary and terminated for a number of reasons, including changed (improved) country conditions.

Asylum may be granted when an alien has suffered past persecution or has a well-founded fear of future persecution by their government on account of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

While Venezuelans could claim fear of persecution by the Maduro regime based on political opinion, if his ouster is followed by removing his fellow regime from power and a democratically elected leader takes over, such changed country conditions warrant termination of asylum and Venezuelans returning home to help rebuild their country and economy.

This is the exact goal of temporary immigration protection: For recipients to go home when their country conditions improve, which many Venezuelans seem eager to do. The Trump administration and the Venezuelan people have the opportunity to be the model for concluding temporary immigration in the U.S. and throughout the world, which strengthens both the sending and receiving countries, alike.

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