Venezuelans, who make up the vast majority of illegal immigrants seeking approval to stay in the United States through a program expanded by the Biden administration, are excited about Donald Trump’s re-election, the New York Times reports.
Many in Venezuela believe that Trump will do what Vice President Kamala Harris failed to do as Border Czar: address the “root causes” of immigration, making it unnecessary to seek a better life in the United States. That includes the hope that Trump, exerting a stronger influence on the world stage, might lead to the ousting of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro.
“Pedro Ron, 28, a delivery worker from Venezuela who lives in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, said his neighborhood was full of celebrating Venezuelans on Nov. 6, the day after Mr. Trump’s victory,” the Times said.
“Everybody was like, ‘I hope Trump lends a hand to help,’” Ron said.
Others who would have made the trek to the United States have already decided not to, since they think Trump, unlike Biden, will not turn a blind eye to illegal immigration or false claims of persecution.
Daniel Garcia, a Venezuelan delivery worker who planned to enter the United States illegally this week, canceled his plans after Trump’s election because “it is a very high investment” and “I prefer not to risk it,” The Times said.
“Many Venezuelans have told New York Times reporters that part of their decision to make the journey had to do with a belief that Mr. Biden had created a special border entry policy for people from their country,” the Times said.
On the campaign trail, Trump said the Biden-Harris administration gave up leverage with Latin American leaders by being weak. He said Venezuela was trying to reduce crime in its country by sending its criminals to the United States, and refusing to accept illegal immigrants deported from the United States.
“They wouldn’t take MS-13 back, they dumped them in our country and wouldn’t take them back,” Trump said. “I said you’re never getting money from the U.S. They said ‘sir, we’d love to take them back, we’d love to have MS-13 back. We took them back by the thousands, and then these clowns took over… now they’re paying them $4 billion I understand, and now they still don’t take them back. We have the dumbest people in history running our government right now.”
Maduro was on the receiving end of tough sanctions during the Trump administration, and remained in power after being accused of stealing an election during the Biden-Harris administration. He has tried to get on Trump’s good side, saying “In his first government … Trump wasn’t good to us [but] this is a new start.”
The next few months could see a last gasp of illegal immigrants looking to rush into the United States before Trump takes office. The Times said there are three migrant caravans currently heading north from southern Mexico, the largest with 1,600 people.
The Biden-Harris administration has authorized mass overtime for Department of Homeland Security officials to grant or deny Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to a backlog of migrants in the coming months. TPS takes illegal immigrants who are already in the country and allows them to work and shields them from deportation for two years. The agents primarily “vet” applicants based on yes-or-no answers provided by the migrants themselves on a form.
