Posted on Mon, Mar. 26, 2007
U.S. representatives call on Bush to let Venezuelans stay


MIAMI - Five U.S. representatives are calling on the federal government to provide temporary legal status to Venezuelans who may be in the country illegally for what they contend is a recent increase in political persecutions in the South American country.

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Mario Diaz-Balart R-Fla., Connie Mack R-Fla. and Jerry Weller, R-Ill., sent a letter Monday to President Bush asking him to order the Department of Homeland Security to temporarily stop deporting Venezuelans.

"We strongly believe that the Chavez government in Venezuela at this time is persecuting its citizens for their political views," the representatives wrote in the letter.

In recent months, Chavez nationalized Venezuela's largest telecommunications company and the electricity sector, though analysts say the government has paid fair market prices for both.

The Venezuelan Congress also recently gave him special powers to decree laws for 18 months, and he has threatened to expropriate supermarkets, stores and other businesses caught hoarding food or speculating on prices following reports of more than 17 percent inflation.

The proposal for Venezuelans would be similar to the temporary protected status given to Nicaraguans and Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans following a devastating earthquake in 2001. The government has repeatedly extended the legal stay of citizens from those countries who were in the U.S. at the time of the disasters. Immigrants from Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, and Liberia also have the protected status.

The legislators asked that alternatively, Bush grant expedited asylum and work permit requests to eligible Venezuelans, as was done for Nicaraguans who left their country after the leftist Sandinista government took power in the 1980s.

Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Venezuelans living in the U.S. doubled to about 160,000, according to the latest U.S. Census numbers. Nearly half live in Florida.

But even more Venezuelans may be here illegally.

Another 400,000 Venezuelans came to the United States in 2005 on business and tourism visas. It is unclear how many stayed. Currently, about 50 percent of asylum applications are approved, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Venezuelans are not the only group seeking the legal status.

Haitian immigrants have repeatedly and unsuccessfully sought protection.

In January, U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fl, reintroduced a bill in Congress to make Haitians eligible for temporary protected status due to the country's recent political crises and severe destruction from hurricanes.

"Our immigration policies have to change; they must reflect fairness and treat Haitians equally to Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans whose deportations are suspended and who are allowed to work and support their families back home," Hastings said at the time.


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