Florida's congressional delegation has found rare bipartisan common ground after Venezuela's devastating earthquakes, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers jointly urging the Trump administration to grant a new Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuelans already living in the United States, arguing that returning them to a country devastated by a humanitarian catastrophe would be both dangerous and inhumane.
Their position supports Texan democratic representative Sylvia García, who has led the effort in Congress, with the support of the Hispanic Caucus.
Hospitals and schools in Venezuela have been destroyed, and rescue crews are still searching through the rubble.
— Rep. Sylvia Garcia (@RepSylviaGarcia) July 1, 2026
The President must immediately redesignate Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela. Venezuelans cannot safely return home.
I will continue fighting to protect… pic.twitter.com/cohp7bmxzy
The devastation in Venezuela is staggering.
— Rep. Sylvia Garcia (@RepSylviaGarcia) June 30, 2026
Today, I urged the President to immediately redesignate Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela.
TPS was created for moments like this. Venezuelans cannot safely return home, and they cannot afford to wait.@HispanicCaucus… pic.twitter.com/1gXoFs17ht
The request represents one of the most significant moments of unity between Democrats and Republicans on immigration since President Donald Trump returned to office.
Florida Democratic Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Darren Soto had been pushing for an expansion of the TPS for Venezuelans since January. After the twin earthquakes, Republicans have officially joined the fight. Leading the effort are Representatives María Elvira Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez, longtime advocates for Venezuelan exiles in South Florida.
Together, Democrats and Republicans argue that the destruction caused by the earthquakes has created precisely the type of extraordinary humanitarian emergency Congress envisioned when it created TPS in 1990.
The bipartisan appeal comes as hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans face uncertainty over their legal status following the Trump administration's efforts to terminate TPS protections. The lawmakers argue that, regardless of broader disagreements over immigration policy, the unprecedented destruction caused by the earthquakes makes deportations unconscionable while rescue operations continue and basic infrastructure remains crippled across large parts of Venezuela.
TPS allows nationals of countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to remain temporarily in the United States with protection from deportation and authorization to work legally. It does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship but has historically been used after major catastrophes, including Haiti's 2010 earthquake and Syria's civil war.
Venezuela has long occupied a unique place in the TPS debate. In 2019, Democratic Representative Soto and Republican Representative Díaz-Balart jointly introduced bipartisan legislation seeking TPS protections for Venezuelans fleeing Nicolás Maduro's government, reflecting years of bipartisan concern over the country's political repression, economic collapse and humanitarian crisis. They reintroduced it in 2021.
The new request comes only days after the U.S. Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major immigration victory by allowing it to terminate TPS protections for more than 350,000 Haitians and about 6,000 Syrians. The ruling significantly expanded executive authority over TPS decisions and has heightened fears among immigrant communities that humanitarian protections for other nationalities could also be revoked despite dangerous conditions in their home countries.
For many Venezuelan Americans in South Florida, the earthquakes have transformed what was already a political debate into an urgent humanitarian one. Churches, nonprofit organizations, businesses and neighborhood groups across Miami-Dade and Broward counties have organized donation drives, collected food, medicine and emergency supplies, and raised funds for victims while also pressing Washington to ensure that Venezuelans already living legally in the United States are not forced to return to a country struggling to recover from one of the deadliest disasters in its modern history.
The renewed push for TPS also reflects growing frustration among many members of South Florida's Venezuelan community over the administration's Venezuela policy. Critics have questioned the White House's willingness to work with the government led by Delcy Rodríguez while appearing to distance itself from opposition figures including María Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia. Several Democratic lawmakers have argued that recent U.S. policy has undermined the democratic opposition while leaving Venezuelans vulnerable both inside the country and abroad.
Whether the administration grants a new TPS designation remains uncertain. However, the unusual alliance between conservative Cuban American Republicans and Florida Democrats underscores the political importance of Venezuela in South Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan diaspora in the United States.
