Several Florida Democratic congressional members condemned the Trump administration's "misguided" decision to revoke the former Biden administration's action to protect more than 500,000 Venezuelan immigrants from deportation.
Seven Florida lawmakers, along with seven others from across the country, signed a letter sent Friday to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem denouncing her for reversing a move by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Venezuelans.
The change in TPS for Venezuelans is among a slew of actions taken by the Trump administration to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
"We write to denounce and express our strong opposition to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s misguided decision" to cancel TPS for Venezuelans, wrote the lawmakers, who want Trump officials to explain their decision.
"The only justification that has been offered by the Administration is the false claim that all Venezuelans are 'dirt bags', 'violent criminals', or the 'worst of the worst'," they wrote.
READ MORE: 'You feel like a criminal': Venezuelans 'devastated' by Trump's TPS decision
The letter was sent to Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida’s former senior senator.
Those signing it were U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, whose congressional district includes one of the nation’s largest Venezuelan-American communities; U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D−Miami Gardens; U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D−West Palm Beach; and U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D−Miramar.
The lawmakers also wrote that adamantly oppose any possible deal that continues granting special licenses for energy companies to operate in Venezuela in exchange for the Venezuelan government accepting the mass deportation of Venezuelan TPS holders.
“Returning Venezuelan immigrants to a dictatorship that engages in torture, extrajudicial murder, and systematic abuse of human rights would be a death sentence for many of our friends and neighbors,” said the lawmakers.
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