Venezuelans in Florida Fear Being Deported After Supreme Court Ruling On TPS: 'Nothing Has Improved Back Home'

Venezuelans in Florida are fretting about the possibility of being deported back to their country after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Monday to effectively revoke the protections of allowing hundreds of thousands to live and work legally in the U.S.

Speaking to the Miami Herald, Betsy Diaz, a Venezuelan-American in Hialeah who has many family members set to lose TPS, called the decision "just unbelievable." "Nothing has improved," she added.

Others rejected the arguments given by the Trump administration to back its decision, chiefly that conditions in the South America have improved enough to allow a safe return. "This administration and their cruel choices disregard any basic humanity we are seeking for," TPS holder Cecilia Gonzalez Herrera added.

Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed on Monday the Supreme Court ruling. In a social media post, the lawmaker said that "Venezuelan TPS holders fled the Maduro regime and built lives in America," and that the "atrocious decision allows Trump to deport non-criminals back to a murderous dictator."

"This fight is NOT over. We must pass my Venezuela TPS Act to keep our community safe," Wasserman Schultz added. She was making reference to a bill introduced on May 9 that would extend TPS for about 600,000 Venezuelans for 18 months. She introduced the bill along with Democrat Darren Soto and Republican Maria Elvira Salazar.

Salazar, on her end, said she is "deeply disappointed with the decision." "Venezuela's dictator Nicolas Maduro also leads Tren de Aragua—a transnational criminal enterprise. We must not send innocent people back into the grip of a narco-terrorist," she added.

Salazar went on to ask for the administration to grant "Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Venezuelans and CHNV beneficiaries. We should protect those fleeing tyranny—not return them to it.

TPS offers deportation relief and work authorization to migrants from countries facing war, disaster, or extraordinary conditions. The Biden administration granted TPS to Venezuelans in 2021, citing repression, humanitarian collapse, and civil unrest under President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has argued that those conditions no longer justify continued protections.

President Donald Trump has consistently denounced Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and supported the Venezuelan opposition, but the revocation of TPS marks a shift from his first administration, during which he granted Venezuelans Deferred Enforced Departure status on his last day in office.