Central Florida’s Venezuelan community rallies for permanent residency bill

ORLANDO, Fla. — A new proposal could change the future of Central Florida’s growing Venezuelan community.

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There’s now a bill in Congress that would give permanent residency to Venezuelans who came to the U.S. before December 31, 2021. It could apply to more than 400,000 Venezuelans, many of whom escaped political persecution or economic instability under the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

Since 2014, the Venezuelan economy has contracted by more than 80 percent, and the nation has experienced food and medicine shortages.

For years, the United States has also not had diplomatic relations with Venezuela and has maintained sanctions on Maduro’s regime.

Experts said it has complicated immigration cases and made deportations to Venezuela challenging.

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In late September of this year, these conditions led Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to grant Temporary Protected Status to half a million Venezuelans who had come to the U.S. in recent years. That status allows Venezuelans to work, travel, and have protection from deportation.

However, those lobbying for the Venezuelan Adjustment Act seek additional protections.

The non-profit group My Voice Counts has led the charge to rally support for a possible Venezuelan Adjustment Act.

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My Voice Counts CEO Mildred Rodriguez and her husband, Francisco Rodriguez, have called Central Florida home for over two decades. They’ve watched their home country of Venezuela descend into chaos.

“You do nothing; you’re not going to get nothing. So, we have to move,” said Rodriguez.

Their organization is self-funded and has taken them across states to lobby for the bill, H.R. 4048.

The bill looks to the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act as a model. That 1966 law provided permanent residency to thousands of Cubans.

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“From time to time, when it is such a humanitarian crisis, the U.S. has stepped up to create these special statuses,” said Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL-09).

Soto introduced the bill alongside a bipartisan group of representatives, including Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27), Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl-25), and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL-24).

There’s lots of work ahead to make the bill a reality. A companion bill still has not been introduced in the Senate, and immigration bills have become notoriously difficult to pass.

“It’s tough to get a new immigration law into law, but we are committed to the long term on this bill,” said Soto.

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