For Venezuelan natives living in the U.S., deportation fears are soaring.<\/p>\n
\nThe Trump administration this month ended Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. People with TPS went from having work permits, drivers\u2019 licenses and protection from deportation to no legal status.<\/p>\n
\nThe fear may be most acute in Doral, Florida, the American city with the most Venezuelans.<\/p>\n
\nA Venezuelan restaurant called El Arepazo, an institution in town, serves empanadas and cheese sticks and is usually bustling with patrons. But on a recent morning, there were hardly any customers during the breakfast rush.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt used to be way fuller than it is right now,\u201d immigration activist Adelys Ferro said. \u201cThe owner said in an interview that we had not that long ago, he said that almost 50% of the flow of customers decreased during the last few months, and obviously, that is because of the immigration crackdown that the government is doing all over.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
El Arepazo is a Venezuelan institution in Doral, Florida. (Scott Tong\/Here & Now)<\/p>\n
With the recent ending of TPS, Ferro says many of her clients have lost legal permission to live and work in the U.S. and buy health insurance.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI can tell you about a man in his 50s that used to have TPS. He was paying for his health insurance,\u201d Ferro said. \u201cHe was on the transplant organ list because he has this very difficult illness. And long story short, he lost it, and he was kicked out of the transplant waiting list.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nShe also knows a new mom who just gave birth to a premature baby who is still at the neonatal unit at a local hospital. Now, the mother has lost her TPS, but still needs to visit her baby at the hospital, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is where we are. I can tell you about kids with cancer,\u201d Ferro said. \u201cI got people that were number one in their high schools. Number one in their universities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nA lot of people are scared and staying home, Ferro said.<\/p>\n
\nOthers have gone back to Venezuela or are planning to, including the brother of Oscar Torres, a Venezuelan American in the car business in Doral.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to live where he\u2019s not able to work, he\u2019s not able to drive, he\u2019s not able to do his everyday chores just because he\u2019s afraid that he\u2019s going to get locked up and then eventually sent back home,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n
\nTechnically, Oscar said it\u2019s his stepbrother. He explains that, decades ago, his Venezuelan American parents adopted a boy born to a poor family in Caracas.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe kid made something out of himself. He\u2019s a college grad,\u201d Torres said. \u201cHe said, \u2018If I\u2019m going to get picked up by ICE and be sent to a camp where criminals are sent to, I\u2019d rather go back and not go through that ordeal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe ending of TPS was pushed by the Trump administration, which makes the politics in Doral conflicted. It\u2019s a conservative city with many immigrants who are fiercely anti-communist.<\/p>\n
\nThe city council this year signed an agreement with the Trump administration to cooperate with ICE that lets local police officers question people\u2019s immigration status and assist in detaining them.<\/p>\n
\nNow, some fearful residents are blaming Republican Mayor Christi Fraga. On Instagram, one person posted, \u201cThis falls on you.\u201d Another said her support for the president \u201cwill haunt you for eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDespite the criticism, Fraga says her support for Trump hasn\u2019t wavered.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI absolutely support the strong leadership that he\u2019s had. And I know it\u2019s not easy and sometimes we make decisions that are very tough,\u201d Fraga said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to agree with all the decisions. Right now, it\u2019s hard for me to reconcile. How can you say that this is a narco-trafficking terrorist country, basically, that\u2019s dangerous, and you\u2019re saying, \u2018Let\u2019s send all these people back that are good families.\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFraga said she worries for people sent back to Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI think about it because my family lived it as well, that fear. I know families that are living it, that are fearful of what they could confront,\u201d Fraga said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that there will be action taken. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any more of \u2018what if,\u2019 it\u2019s a \u2018when\u2019 there\u2019ll be action taken of seeing, hopefully, that government come down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nA Cuban American herself, Fraga said the deportation uncertainty is personal in another way: Some of her son\u2019s friends in school went back to Venezuela over the summer and didn\u2019t return because their families didn\u2019t want to live with \u201canxiety and little kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs a Latina, you know, Hispanic woman, my grandparents left in the middle of the night,\u201d Fraga said. \u201cIt\u2019s hurtful to think about, and it\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n