The Venezuelans left in limbo by new US immigration plan
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This article was first published on The New York Times
January 9, 2018
For more than a year, the Trump administration has been trying to implement a plan to allow the estimated 12 million Venezuelans living in the United States to obtain work permits and travel visas.
It wants to expedite their entrance to the jobs market so that they can buy food, medicine, education, and other necessities amid a serious food and medicine crisis. But the government of President Nicolás Maduro has stopped the plan.
Since the start of last year, when Mr. Maduro abruptly withdrew from a long-term trade and diplomatic relationship with the United States, the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington has been trying to block the proposal from going forward.
The Trump administration is considering two separate immigration plans aimed at Venezuelans. One would allow them to enter with visas and passports before an in-person interview with an immigration official. The other would allow them to apply for and be considered for a work permit.
When the administration announced the work permit process, it listed several reasons for its urgency. The government estimates that Venezuelans need work permits to acquire the education, housing, and medical care that could help Venezuela’s poorest population recover from the economic crisis.
But many Venezuelans have expressed concern that they do not plan to come to the United States.
“The idea of having to go to an official to get a visa and interview is absolutely unacceptable to us,” said Mariela Mestre, a 46-year-old retired medical assistant who lives in Washington, D.C. “There are a lot of things we have to take care of, and to apply for a job? I don’t want my kids to grow up without a mommies’ home.”
Ms. Mestre said that she and her husband have been in the U.S. for 15 years. They had jobs, he in security, and she in medical and psychological therapy before the economic crisis led to their separation. Now her daughter, who is 15, has
