Trump grants Venezuelans temporary legal status on his way out

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he will offer Venezuelan exiles protection from deportation, a move he has considered for years but refused to do until his last full day in office.

Trump is using the little-known Deferred Enforced Departure program, or DED, to offer temporary legal status to Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis brought on by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. DED, similar to Temporary Protected Status or TPS, protects recipients from deportation and allows them to get work permits. However, it is granted directly by the president instead of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The deteriorative condition within Venezuela, which presents an ongoing national security threat to the safety and well-being of the American people, warrants the deferral of the removal of Venezuelan nationals who are present in the United States,” Trump said in a memorandum released Tuesday.

Based on Trump’s memo, the U.S. will defer for 18 months the removal of certain Venezuelan nationals present in the U.S. on Jan. 20. It also allows those Venezuelans to work during that period of time.

Last year, the State Department had considered using DED to protect Venezuelans, but talks stalled over resistance to including relief for exiles in Trump’s Venezuela strategy. The outgoing president’s strategy centered around sanctions to put maximum pressure on the Maduro regime.

The move to use DED instead of TPS stems from a long-standing concern from some Republicans that TPS will eventually become a path to permanent residency in the United States. Deferred Enforced Departure is designated by the president and gives the chief executive the ability to end it without as many procedural hurdles.

Offering DED to Venezuelans is expected to protect about 200,000 Venezuelan citizens in the U.S. from deportation — the same number it potentially would have under TPS, according to TPS estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

Florida Republicans, such as Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, have long pushed for the Trump administration to offer temporary legal status to Venezuelans given the dire situation in the South American country. It was also long sold as a way to build more good will with South Florida’s Venezuelan community.

Despite not granting TPS for Venezuelans, Trump — with his campaign's anti-socialist messaging — won in Doral, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, posting significant gains from 2016.

People close to Trump’s last-minute decision said White House advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were involved in moving it forward. The decision — which comes less than 16 hours before Trump’s presidency ends — will likely come as welcome news in South Florida, where he, his daughter and son-in-law will soon reside.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been involved heavily in Trump’s Latin America policy, on Sunday hinted that an announcement could be coming soon.

“Still hopeful that as I suggested over a year ago & again three months ago, the President will grant Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to eligible Venezuelan nationals currently residing in the U.S.,” Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote on Twitter.

President-elect Joe Biden has previously pledged to grant Venezuelans temporary protected status. In 2019, the Democratic-led House passed a bipartisan bill to grant TPS to Venezuelans. But the legislation was held up in the GOP-controlled Senate, despite support from Rubio.