‘Deeply disappointed’: Miami lawmakers in D.C. react to court decision on Venezuelan TPS
In a rare display of bipartisanship, Democratic and Republican members of South Florida’s congressional delegation pushed back against a Supreme Court decision Monday that would allow the Trump administration to revoke temporary protections against deportations for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants.
In her most open criticism of efforts to deport legal migrants, Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Miami, who is advocating for an immigration reform bill, said she was “deeply disappointed” with the decision.
“Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro also leads Tren de Aragua—a transnational criminal enterprise,” Salazar, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs’ Western Hemisphere subcommittee, told the Miami Herald. “We must not send innocent people back into the grip of a narco-terrorist. We should protect those fleeing tyranny — not return them to it.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes Weston, a Venezuelan stronghold in South Florida, said the court order was “atrocious” because it would allow President Donald Trump to deport “non-criminal” Venezuelans seeking refuge in America from Maduro’s “oppression and tyranny.”
“This fight is not over. We must pass my Venezuela TPS Act to keep our community safe,” the congresswoman said in reference to a bill she and Salazar introduced earlier this month that would grant temporary protections for another 18 months to about 600,000 Venezuelans in the country.
The Supreme Court decision complicates the political scenario for the Republican congressional delegation from Miami, which has tried to quietly lobby administration officials to soften some of its immigration policies behind the scenes but have resisted calling them out publicly.
But there has been mounting pressure from members of the community – and political ads calling them “traitors” for allegedly abandoning immigrants — on the three Cuban American Republicans to flex their political muscle and use it to push back on the administration’s efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelans with family ties in South Florida.
Carlos Giménez, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Transportation and Maritime Security subcommittee, said in a statement that he has “consistently” called on the administration to let Venezuelan migrants seek asylum and process their cases “on an individual, case-by-case basis.”
“President Trump has demonstrated unmatched leadership in supporting the cause of freedom in Venezuela — more than any other world leader,” he said. “I strongly believe that individuals with legitimate asylum claims should be allowed to remain in the United States and continue contributing to our nation until democracy is fully restored in Venezuela.”
Though U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the Tren de Aragua gang is not controlled by Maduro, the Trump administration has used the argument in a push to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members and, more broadly, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who live in the country.
Giménez called on the administration to avoid criminalizing an entire community.
“Here in South Florida, many Venezuelans are law-abiding residents who contribute meaningfully to our local economy and community,” he said. “As I have always said: although all members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization are Venezuelan, not all Venezuelans are part of Tren de Aragua. We must not allow the actions of a few criminals to define an entire community that overwhelmingly respects our laws and values.”
During a congressional hearing he chaired last week, Giménez asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for a meeting to introduce “some nuance” and put “concerns” about the revocation of TPS in his community “to rest.”
In his statement Monday, he quoted Noem’s response to his request.
“During the hearing, I appreciated Secretary Noem’s commitment to addressing this issue,” he said. “As she stated, the administration is working to ‘bring integrity back’ to programs like TPS, and she acknowledged that ‘those individuals, we are working with them,’ adding that she would meet with me and my colleagues to ‘address their needs and see what their options are.’
In the hearing, Noem also vowed to ‘work on the solutions to make sure they are in a program that is appropriate for their situation.’
Noem is expected to meet Giménez, Salazar and U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart of Miami this week to discuss the administration’s immigration policies, the Herald has learned.
Salazar also said she is asking the Trump administration to grant Deferred Enforced Departure, an immigration benefit that pauses deportations, for Venezuelans who will lose their legal status because of Monday’s decision as well as Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who entered the country through a parole program created by the Biden administration.
The Supreme Court is also expected to rule on the Trump’s administration’s earlier decision to revoke the parole status for the program’s beneficiaries.
Díaz-Balart was on a plane on Monday afternoon and was not immediately available for comment, his communications director said.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said in a statement: “President Trump has full authority to take action here, and I’m glad the Supreme Court agrees.
“The weak open border policies of Biden and Democrats allowed the illegitimate dictators like Maduro, Diaz-Canel and Ortega to take full advantage and weaponize migration by opening their jails and sending dangerous criminals, like Tren de Aragua, to terrorize our country,” he said. “I stand with the people of Venezuela fighting for their freedom and support protections for legitimate persecution claims that are fully vetted and serving the best interests of the United States, not exploiting the system. Ultimately, the U.S. would be safer with Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua as free democracies and not failed states in our hemisphere.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 6:29 PM.