Venezuela

In recent years, a record number of immigrants have entered the U.S. and sought asylum. Instead of relief, they're met with a staggering backlog and uncertain future.

Venezuelan electoral authorities declared President Nicolás Maduro winner of the 2024 presidential election held July 28. The opposition candidate, the U.S. and international leaders are questioning the results. Some Republican senators are blaming the election outcome on the Biden administration’s lifting of sanctions.

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with former state lawmaker Jeff Brandes about a bill he co-sponsored that alters the process for university presidential searches.

It comes almost exactly a year after Florida lawmakers and Gov. DeSantis approved a measure to restrict property ownership by people from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria.

The crisis in Haiti, the exodus and elections in Venezuela, immigration legislation at home — academic Anthony Pereira discusses the pivotal events that shaped Latin America in the past year, and where those issues may go in 2024.

The Baez family felt they had little choice but to leave their home country of Venezuela after their own personal safety was at risk. The decision to leave everything behind and start from scratch began a journey of both uncertainty and possibility.

Many who reach the U.S.-Mexico border go to tortuous lengths to reach American soil. This is a taxing process, on both a personal and economic level, leaving thousands of migrants, who are already escaping desperate conditions, unable to support themselves.

Venezuelans were the first to receive Biden's humanitarian parole — and while some call it a "miracle" ticket out of their crisis, others say they've grown impatient waiting for it.

“This decision is a blatant betrayal of the very principles that United States claims to uphold — justice, compassion, and human rights,” said Krizia López Arce, a spokesperson for the Miami−based group, in a statement Friday. The coalition represents more than 50 statewide groups supporting immigrants.

A TikTok video claimed Biden granted almost 500,000 Venezuelan migrants voting rights, but that’s inaccurate. TPS recipients do not automatically become U.S. citizens, however, and only citizens can vote in federal elections.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted the new parole policy has relieved the border crisis — and so questioned why Republicans oppose it.

Thousands of migrant students are enrolling in school in Miami-Dade County. Officials say the unexpected spike in enrollment is testing the school systems' ability to meet all students' needs.