The Department of State has been considering granting Venezuelans Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Before making the decision, the White House should consider several points.
On the one hand, the socialist authoritarian regime of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro has driven Venezuela into the ditch. Hungry and impoverished, the people of Venezuela have been suffering and many went out
On the other hand, granting TPS is problematic for several reasons. To begin with, as the economist Milton Friedman once noted, “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” What guarantees do we have that TPS for Venezuelan nationals will not be abused and extended for almost two decades, as it was in the case of Salvadorans?
Furthermore, granting TPS to Venezuelan citizens will likely spur mass migration from that country to the United States. Most would probably undertake the long land route northwest across the entire length of Central America and Mexico. This poses a hazard to the potential migrants themselves.
Third, while the granting of TPS to Venezuelans seems humane and legitimate given the conditions in the country, it may also ultimately harm the Bolivarian Republic by delaying the restoration of freedom and democracy. In fact, if thousands (or perhaps tens of thousands) of Venezuelans leave the country, this will likely ease some of the popular pressure on the despotic neo-communist Maduro regime. After all, corrupt leaders throughout Latin America have been using mass emigration as a safety valve to defuse social discontent and maintain their power and wealth.
Thus, while Americans are right to sympathize with and support the democratic aspirations of the people of Venezuelans, we should focus on policies that will promote freedom and prosperity in that country. If the US government does indeed decide to extend TPS to Venezuelan nationals, it must ensure that the status truly is temporary, rather than serving as a de facto amnesty. Otherwise, TPS risks losing all credibility in the eyes of American citizens.
The Pros And Cons Of TPS For Venezuelans
14 Comments
They are out and out frigging communists, what’s wrong with these people wanting to bring them here DAMNIT TO HELL. Oh stupid me I forgot, they’re communists too!
Pingback: Epic Excuse-Making Follows Near-Fatal Police Shooting By Criminal Alien – Dr. Rich Swier
The TPS policy Has Failed
There’s no way to implement it properly and no way to deal with the MASS migrations…scrap TPS until we have a workable policy in place.
I am totally against the TPS program and want it ended forever and the foreigners here under thst program returned to THEIR countries ASAP. While I am supportive of the USA doing its part in helping the people of other nations, temporarily, during a crisis, such as a natural disaster, our help should be in the form of foods, medicines, etc, sent to their countries. Our “help” should NEVER involve bringing those people into our country. Just a casual look at the hundreds of thousands of foreigners here under this program which should have required them returning home as soon as the crisis was manageable, yet here they all still remain after decades. In the USA, no program is EVER temporary. Last is the point that the USA provides more humanitarian aid to other nations than any other country always. So, let NO one dare say that we do not do our part, and a great deal more, but our home is fill up, no more beds, no more welfare, no more free medical care, no more anything. We simply cannot afford it any longer and if we, as a nation, do not soon change our ways and stop helping the rest of the world exploit us, we, as America, are not going to survive.
This is something that should NOT be considered under ANY circumstances. Let’s not forget that it was the people of Venezuela who VOTED for Hugo Chavez and his promises of a socialist paradise. It is up to THEM to straighten out their own country. The only thing we did by having Cubans come here for six decades is to give them the excuse to run away from their own responsibilities. It’s been sixty years of being controlled by Obama’s pals the Castro family, and the relatively few Cubans who have stayed and fought for freedom at a great personal price, including the ladies in white, are doing the job that the rest of the cowards refuse to do.
And exactly what would “ensure” that TPS for Venezuelans would be just that, temporary? Sorry, we have been lied to enough. Fool me once is the saying, how many times do we have to drink the kool-ade. What “credibility” does the TPS program have left to lose? The idea that it would be at most, “tens of thousands” is a fantasy. Millions would be more like it.
It’s incredible how ignorant someone can be. I am venezuelan and I never voted for Hugo Chavez nor Maduro. We are not cowards because we left. We left Venezuela because Maduro has created hell for us. Believe me we would love to go back and have the life we had with our families. I pray for this every day of my life.
I am an attorney and I will not be able to make a living in Venezuela with my career and this is the story of the majority of venezuelans living in the United States. I hope anyone related to you suffers what we have been suffering over the last twenty years. People like you need a punch of reality. Having solidarity will not hurt you.
The majority of Venezuelans voted for Chavez. If you want to live in Venezuela and prosper then it is up to YOU and your fellow countrymen to do what it takes. There were many men who gave up their fortunes during the American Revolution to achieve their goal of freedom from British rule. We also fought a war over slavery that killed more men than any other war we have been in. It’s up to you and your countrymen to do something, not sit on your rears in another country and say you can’t make a comfortable living at home.
Enough of rolling out the red carpet for yet more dependents on US Taxpayers! Until illegal immigration is dealt with if you roll out the welcome mat for yet more people from the bird world they will have no incentive to stay home and fight for their country – there is no need for anyone from Cuba or Haiti to be TPS and they never go home – they establish roots and then don’t want to go back once they see you don’t have to be socialist to get free shot on other people’s money in a capitalist country – let them stay and fight – they voted for them – now it’s time to send all the other TPS folks home – it’s never ending! And then they sue when you want to send them back – and our new socialist congress people who were refugees should never have been given citizenship status as they hate America and all we stand for and are now poised to destroy us from within – wake up State Dept and DHS we are being invaded without a shot fired – build the wall and deport the invaders – they are already getting more benefits than citizens with all the free healthcare education welfare they get and yes they get it – tax all cash being sent to other countries through western union by 10% and the wall will be built in a week – save our country!
So, your excuse for abandoning your country is because you could not procure a job you wanted? So, your solution was to look out for your own personal desires and run away to some other country, leaving your fellow citizens and your country to their fate. What if you had stayed and wirked to change things for everyone? Might you have made a difference? Sorry, but we true Americans do not feel lots of compassion for people who run away when things get tough instead of staying to fight for their country. To us, love of, and loyalty to, country is more important than a better job, an easier life, a better house, welfare, etc. What good are those things if you have to give up your country to get them? So, one is left to assume that those who just run away have little love of or loyalty to their country.
Yes here we are fighting to stop them from coming across our border and now they are going to let those in. My God, it seriously looks like we are fighting a losing battle- against our own country.
Do not do it Mr President. If the Venezuelans come in a TPS situation they will never go away. We have TPS people here now that have been here thirty years. Tempory means not forever.
Big point being missed here is that to get “Temporary Protected Status,” one must be an ILLEGAL ALIEN within the territory of the US! They’re in effect being “protected” from – you guessed it! – the consequences of their crime of either border jumping, or visa fraud.
Fully Agree… TPS rewards Illegal alien behaviour. A lot of ‘free loading’ or vividores mentality among Venezuelans
And keep in mind how those people literally hate us- how they have insulted us, now they can live off of us? But they will be just as much despised by us, especially having to support the ugly scumbags. Only they’ll be the ones laughing.