NEW YORK, United States (CMC) – Caribbean immigration advocates New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), together with local immigrant organisations, is calling on US President Donald  Trump to grant Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Venezuelan New Yorkers in response to Trump’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 600,000 status holders.

“Venezuela’s political and humanitarian crisis is ongoing,” NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Friday.

NYIC, an umbrella policy and advocacy organisation that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, serves one of the largest and most diverse newcomer populations in the United States (US).

“Venezuelans who have fled persecution and established new roots in New York do not yet have the stability and certainty of safety they need should they be forced to return,” Awawdeh said. “Without protections from removal, such as DED, Venezuelan New Yorkers will be forced to live in limbo here in America or become another victim of the dangerous deportation machine, simply for trying to safeguard their family from the violence that may await them in Venezuela.

“New York has welcomed thousands of Venezuelans who left their country in pursuit of safety, freedom, and opportunity, and many now call this state home,” he added. “They fled a country marked by economic and humanitarian collapse. Yet today, far too many Venezuelan families remain trapped in legal limbo, living with constant uncertainty about their futures.

“By revoking legal status and threatening deportations, Trump has deliberately destabilised families who have done everything required of them,” Awawdeh continued. “Forcing people to return to a country that remains in turmoil would jeopardise lives and threaten the safety of entire families.

“We call on Trump to act now and designate DED for Venezuelans who call this country home and have established deep roots in our communities, from working essential jobs to raising families in our state,” he said. “Without this protection, families could face detention, loss of work authorisation, and separation from their loved ones, further destabilising communities.”

Jesús Aguais, president of Aid for Life and AID for AIDS, said that, “as a Venezuelan-American, I want to be clear: Venezuela is still in turmoil. Nearly 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States who lost TPS cannot safely return to a country where the threat of persecution and economic collapse may still exist.

“The US government must act now grant Deferred Enforced Departure to protect Venezuelans whose lives and freedom are still at risk,” he also urged.

Rosa Maria Bramble Caballero, executive director, Venezuelan Alliance for Community Support (VACS), said her organisation “strongly supports the designation of DED for Venezuelan nationals, because our recent, community-based trauma-informed needs assessment of Venezuelan families in New York City shows that legal status is the foundation of safety, stability, and recovery.

“Venezuelans are a forced-displacement population and the most recent large immigrant community in New York City, and many families are now being retraumatised after surviving pre-migration trauma, dangerous journeys, and the stresses of resettlement, only to face renewed fear, loss of work authorisation, and the threat of deportation,” Bramble Caballero said.

“Political uncertainty in Venezuela and the loss of legal protections have created such intense fear that some parents are struggling to take their children to school or even attend court hearings, pushing families back into survival mode just as they were beginning to rebuild,” she added.

“DED would provide immediate protection to adults and children, restore work authorisation, prevent forced return to dangerous conditions, and reestablish the first and most essential step of trauma recovery — safety — allowing Venezuelan families to heal, integrate, and contribute with dignity, which is both a humanitarian and a human-rights imperative,” Bramble Caballero continued.