Venezuela TPS Act of 2019

Last updated

Venezuela Temporary Protected Status Act of 2019
Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg
Long titleA Bill to designate Venezuela under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit nationals of Venezuela to be eligible for temporary protected status under such section, and for other purposes.
NicknamesVenezuela TPS Act of 2019
Announced inthe 116th United States Congress
Number of co-sponsors33
Legislative history

The Venezuela TPS Act of 2019 is a bill in the 116th United States Congress sponsored by Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL). [1] It aims to extend temporary protected status to Venezuelan nationals in light of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis and the crisis in Venezuela in general.

Contents

The bill was introduced to the House as H.R. 549 on January 15, 2019. [2]

The bill was reintroduced in the 117th congress in 2021 (H.R. 161 and S. 50).

Introduction

Announcing the bill, Washington, D.C., said it was a bill introduced because of "egregious human rights abuses" and "an economic, humanitarian, and security crisis" in Venezuela. D.C. said that this has caused many Venezuelans to become refugees in foreign countries, and that whilst corruption remains in Venezuela these people should be protected. [1]

Soto and Díaz-Balart each gave statements, both alluding to suffering under Nicolás Maduro's presidency, described by Soto as "tyrannical". Soto said that "TPS [is] a way to help protect our brothers and sisters escaping Maduro's terror"; Díaz-Balart said that "[w]e must not force Venezuelans who have sought safety in the United States to return to such dangerous conditions". [1]

A similar bill had been introduced to the Senate of the 115th Congress as S. 3759 in December 2018, which invoked Section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This bill also aimed to strengthen migration routes in South America to help people immediately trying to exit Venezuela to a neighboring country. [3] United States President Donald Trump did not support this bill, and had been trying to end TPS for months at the time. [4] The bill was re-introduced to the Senate as S. 636 on February 28, 2019. [5]

Despite this, Soto, speaking in January 2019, said he believed that the developing conditions in Venezuela had reached a point that Trump may be likely to support his new bill, saying that "[i]f there is a country that might get TPS approved by the White House, it would be Venezuela". He also suggested Trump may favor the bill because it would be a further sanction against the Maduro administration. Díaz-Balart said that the bill is "in lockstep with [the White House's] "aggressive" stance against the government of [Maduro]". [4]

Proposed protection level

Venezuela TPS Act of 2019 Venezuela TPS Act of 2019.pdf
Venezuela TPS Act of 2019

Under the bill, the protection status of Venezuelans in the United States would be quite high. They would not face deportation, be granted work authorization, as well as be able to travel abroad without the threat of not being allowed to return. [1] The bill would automatically apply to all Venezuelans who have been continuously present in the United States at the time of enactment of the law, and would have an 18-month period for others to apply starting on the day it was signed into law. [4] [2] Soto's office believes it will give protection to around 200,000 Venezuelans. [6]

Responses

The Trump Administration said that they would not give TPS to Venezuelans, even though the Americas advocate to Amnesty International, Charanya Krishnaswami, said that Venezuela exemplified what the TPS system was designed for. Multiple people, including Senators in a joint letter, called Trump a hypocrite because of the announcement. Geoff Ramsey from the Washington Office on Latin America said that the wrong message is being sent to Venezuela and Latin America in trying to encourage US support, because refusing TPS whilst decrying the humanitarian situation shows that the "administration's concern for Venezuelans ends the instant they leave their country". [7]

Political commentators believe that introducing the bill will give Trump support in his 2020 re-election campaign from the Venezuelan and Cuban population in the battleground state of Florida. [8]

Voting history

On July 25, 2019, the bill passed in the House of Representatives. All Democrat members voted in favor, and were joined by 39 Republican members. [6] The Miami Herald had originally suggested it would need the support of 55 House Republicans, but that this number could be reasonably higher or lower depending on how many members were present. [9] A fast-track vote on the Senate bill was introduced five days later, just before the summer recess, in order to quickly align with the House by bypassing procedure, which can be achieved with votes of unanimous consent. However, such votes fail if only one member opposes; Utah Republican Mike Lee opposed the bill and so it will have to be voted on in full after the recess. [10]

Three votes were held in the House for the bill: to pass with amendments via suspension of rules and majority vote on July 23, which failed 268–145; to add amendments on July 25, which failed 215-217 shortly before the third vote; to pass the text as submitted on July 25, which passed 272–158. [11]

On September 25, 2019, Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott proposed an amendment to the Temporary protected status designation through an amendment to the 2019 Venezuela Act; he offered to push the bill through the Senate immediately in exchange for holding regular reviews of countries awarded TPS, an overhaul of the renewable nature of the system. [12]

On September 16, 2020, Senate Republicans blocked a proposal to fast-track the bill. [13] On September 30, Republicans senators blocked once again the legislation, being the fifth time in the last 18 months. [14] Shortly before ending his tenure, on January 20, 2021, Donald Trump approved Deferred Enforced Departure, protecting Venezuelans from deportation. [15]

In March 2021, the Joe Biden administration granted the temporary protected status (TPS) to Venezuelan migrants living in the United States. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Díaz-Balart</span> American politician (born 1954)

Lincoln Rafael Díaz-Balart is a Cuban-American attorney and politician. He was the U.S. representative for Florida's 21st congressional district from 1993 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate. He retired from Congress in 2011 and his younger brother, Mario Díaz-Balart, who had previously represented Florida's 25th congressional district, succeeded him. He is currently chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute. After leaving Congress, he started a law practice and a consulting firm, both based in Miami, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ileana Ros-Lehtinen</span> American politician (born 1952)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a politician and lobbyist from Miami, Florida, who represented Florida's 27th congressional district from 1989 to 2019. By the end of her tenure, she was the most senior U.S. Representative from Florida. She was Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2011–2013. In 1989, Ros-Lehtinen won a special election and became the first Cuban American elected to Congress. She was also the first Republican woman elected to the House from Florida. Ros-Lehtinen gave the first Republican response to the State of the Union address in Spanish in 2011, and gave the third in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Díaz-Balart</span> American politician (born 1961)

Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart Caballero is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district. A Republican, he was elected in 2002, and his district includes much of southwestern Miami-Dade County, including Hialeah, and much of the northern portion of the Everglades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Sessions</span> American politician (born 1955)

Peter Anderson Sessions is an American politician from Texas who is the U.S. representative for Texas's 17th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, he has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 11 terms. He chaired the House Rules Committee from 2013 to 2019 and is a former chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He was defeated for reelection by Democrat Colin Allred in 2018. On October 3, 2019, Sessions announced that he was running for Congress again in 2020. He was elected to the 17th district congressional seat on November 3, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Mace</span> American politician (born 1977)

Nancy Ruth Mace is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district since 2021. Her district includes much of the state's share of the East Coast, from Charleston to Hilton Head Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Dent</span> American politician (born 1960)

Charles Wieder Dent is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district from 2005 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DREAM Act</span> American legislative proposal on immigration

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, is a United States legislative proposal to grant temporary conditional residency, with the right to work, to illegal immigrants who entered the United States as minors—and, if they later satisfy further qualifications, they would attain permanent residency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Cassidy</span> American physician and politician (born 1957)

William Morgan Cassidy is an American physician and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Louisiana, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Louisiana State Senate from 2006 to 2009 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren Soto</span> American attorney & politician (born 1978)

Darren Michael Soto is an American attorney and Democratic politician from Kissimmee, Florida, who is the U.S. representative for Florida's 9th district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Respect for Marriage Act</span> 2022 U.S. federal law

The Respect for Marriage Act is a landmark United States federal law passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), requires the U.S. federal government and all U.S. states and territories to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial civil marriages in the United States, and protects religious liberty. Its first version in 2009 was supported by former Republican U.S. Representative Bob Barr, the original sponsor of DOMA, and former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in 1996. Iterations of the proposal were put forth in the 111th, 112th, 113th, 114th, and 117th Congresses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Curbelo</span> American politician (born 1980)

Carlos Luis Curbelo is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. In 2018, he was narrowly defeated for re-election by Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. He is a member of the Republican Party. Prior to his election to the U.S. House, he served on the Dade County School Board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equality Act (United States)</span> Bill to prohibit sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the 117th Congress

The Equality Act is a bill in the United States Congress, that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service. The Supreme Court's June 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County protects gay and transgender people in matters of employment, but not in other respects. The Bostock ruling also covered the Altitude Express and Harris Funeral Homes cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Fitzpatrick (American politician)</span> American politician (born 1973)

Brian Kevin Fitzpatrick is an American politician, attorney, and former FBI agent who has served as a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania since 2017. His district, which was numbered the 8th district during his first term and the 1st district since 2019, includes all of Bucks County, a mostly suburban county north of Philadelphia, as well as a sliver of Montgomery County.

The following is a list of efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which had been enacted by the 111th United States Congress on March 23, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act</span> Congressional bill

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is a congressional bill that would, in most cases, make it unlawful to perform an abortion if the estimated post-fertilization age of a fetus is 20 weeks or more. The bill is based upon the assertion that a fetus is capable of feeling pain during an abortion at and after that point in a pregnancy.

The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act was a bill proposed in the 115th United States Congress that would recognize legalization of cannabis and the U.S. state laws that have legalized it through their legislatures or citizen initiative. It was introduced on June 7, 2018 by Senators Cory Gardner and Elizabeth Warren. A companion bill was introduced the same day in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Earl Blumenauer and David Joyce. The act would amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 to exempt from federal enforcement individuals or corporations in states who are in compliance with U.S. state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia, or tribal law on cannabis, with certain additional provisions such as minimum ages. The banking provisions of the STATES Act have been reintroduced as the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019 in the 116th U.S. Congress by Ed Perlmutter in the House, and by Jeff Merkley in the Senate. As of September 18, 2019, the House bill had 206 cosponsors, and the Senate bill had 33 cosponsors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">For the People Act</span> Election reform and anti-corruption bill in the 117th Congress

The For the People Act, introduced as H.R. 1, is a bill in the United States Congress intended to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, ban partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian–Venezuelan Threat Mitigation Act</span> Bill of the United States Congress responding to the 2019 Venezuelan Presidential Crisis

The Russian–Venezuelan Threat Mitigation Act is a bill in the 116th United States Congress sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and co-sponsored by Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), Donna Shalala (D-FL), and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL). It aims to monitor and investigate Russia's increasing involvement in the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis and the crisis in Venezuela in general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021</span> 2021 United States legislative bill

The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 was a legislative bill that was proposed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office. It was formally introduced in the House by Representative Linda Sánchez. It died with the ending of the 117th Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BOLIVAR Act</span> US legislative bill

The Banning Operations and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime Act, known as the BOLIVAR Act for short, is a bill introduced by Congressman Michael Waltz and approved in the United States House of Representatives, and referred to the United States Senate. The proposal is aimed at ending government contracts with businesses working with the Nicolás Maduro administration in Venezuela. The acronym of the act is named after the Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Reps. Soto, Diaz-Balart Introduce Bipartisan Venezuela TPS Act of 2019". Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. January 17, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Soto, Darren (January 15, 2019). "H.R.549 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): To designate Venezuela under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit nationals of Venezuela to be eligible for temporary protected status under such section, and for other purposes". www.congress.gov. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  3. ↑ "S.3759 - Venezuela TPS Act of 2018". Congress.gov. December 13, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 "TPS for Venezuelans: The bipartisan immigration bill lawmakers believe Trump might support". CBS News. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  5. ↑ "S.636 - Venezuela Temporary Protected Status Act of 2019". Congress.gov. February 28, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Venezuela TPS Act Passes U.S. House of Representatives". Congressman Darren Soto. July 25, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  7. ↑ Charles Davis (July 16, 2019). "Trump administration to continue deporting Venezuelans despite crisis". The Guardian. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  8. ↑ Kumar, Anita; Lippman, Daniel (September 2, 2019). "Why Trump may protect one group of immigrants". Politico . Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  9. ↑ Daugherty, Alex (July 22, 2019). "Democrats will force a House vote on TPS for Venezuelans. They'll need GOP support". Miami Herald. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  10. ↑ Daugherty, Alex (July 30, 2019). "Democrats tried to pass TPS for Venezuelans. Senate Republicans blocked it". Miami Herald. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  11. ↑ Soto, Darren (July 29, 2019). "Actions - H.R.549 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Venezuela TPS Act of 2019". www.congress.gov. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  12. ↑ Daugherty, Alex (September 25, 2019). "Rick Scott tries and fails to overhaul TPS in exchange for granting it to Venezuelans". Miami Herald. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Senate Republicans block attempt to pass TPS for Venezuelans". C-Span . September 16, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Senate Republicans Again Block Venezuela TPS Legislation | United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations". United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations . September 30, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Trump halts deportation of Venezuelans for 18 months". France 24 . January 20, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  16. ↑ Spetalnick, Matt (March 8, 2021). "Biden grants temporary protected status to Venezuelans in U.S. who fled country's turmoil". Reuters . Retrieved March 13, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.