Central Florida community leaders and U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, gathered in Kissimmee on Friday morning to rebuke President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration and federal funding freeze.
Some of Trump’s orders call for the removal of people in the United States without legal status and revoke birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens as a way to combat undocumented immigration.
At the forefront of Soto's condemnation was the administration’s revocation of a Temporary Protection Status extension. The extension, which would have lasted until October 2026 and affects more than 500,000 Venezuelans in the United States, came in the twilight of former President Joe Biden’s term.
TPS is a federal program that allows people from certain countries to live and work in the United States if it's unsafe for them to return home.
The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan area has the second largest population of Venezuelans in the United States, according to 2021 U.S. Census data. It’s second only to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area.
Soto said he supports Venezuelans in the country through TPS and presented a letter he jointly signed with other members of Congress that seeks an explanation for the decision.
“They are members of local families, and we will stand with them,” he said.
Soto was joined by other local leaders like state Rep. Johanna López, D-Orlando, who said, “It is an unjust and unnecessary attack on families who contribute daily to our communities.”
López then brought out the Legislature’s immigration bill to the table. The bill was approved during a special session on Tuesday. One part of the bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to veto, repeals a law that allows students without legal status to pay in-state tuition.
The tuition law was originally signed into law by Republican Sen. Rick Scott when he was Florida’s governor.
Republican state Sen. Randy Fine, who represents Brevard County and will be on the ballot in an April special election to replace national security adviser Michael Waltz’s District 6 congressional seat, is a critic of the tuition waiver.
Democrats like Soto and López, some Florida Republicans and DeSantis have called on constituents to let representatives know how they feel about the bill.
Cecilia Gonzalez is a Venezuelan TPS recipient who utilized in-state tuition to attend the University of Central Florida. She said the Trump administration’s actions could have dangerous consequences for families who have left the South American country.
“TPS offers safety and the ability to thrive. It is not a handout,” she said.
Soto and other Florida leaders also condemned the Trump administration’s now-rescinded federal grant pause. Representatives from Hope Partnership, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists and Florida Alliance for Retired Americans joined him.
On Friday afternoon, a second federal judge ordered a pause on the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze funding.
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