From PBS NewsHour.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said it’s a “hypocrisy” for President Donald Trump to lift Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans who have lived in the U.S. for decades while also issuing advisories warning Americans to not travel to the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who testified Wednesday before a Senate committee for the first time since Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro was removed, said the protections were granted to “so many people in such vast numbers so quickly without proper vetting by the previous administration.”
TPS is a program that grants temporary and renewable legal status to migrants from countries that are experiencing armed conflict, environmental disasters and other violent conditions.
The benefit prevents deportation and allows people to remain in the U.S. if there’s concern that they cannot return safely to certain countries.The Trump administration has also moved to end TPS for people from countries beyond Venezuela, such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Honduras and Somalia, among others.
Booker said it was frustrating that there’s still a repressive regime in power in Venezuela, while the U.S. is sending migrants who have lived in the U.S. for years “back into that hell,” where they could be targeted and exploited.“
This is a situation ripe for where we are being complicit in continuing human rights violations, and that needs to stop,” Booker said.
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