U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Robert ‘Bob’ Menendez asked the Biden administration to redesignate Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, which is set to end this fall.
The letter sent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday cites the ongoing political and humanitarian situation under Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as grounds for an extension of the temporary relief, which is set to expire on Sept. 9.
“The Maduro regime’s use of food as a weapon of social and political control has led millions of Venezuelans to suffer from food insecurity. This has only been exacerbated by the regime’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 6 million Venezuelans have fled the atrocious conditions in the country,” said Rubio, a Florida Republican, and Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey.
