Miami Republicans fight Trump policies threatening deportations for their community

A trio of Miami-area Republicans are pushing back against the administration as President Trump works to end programs protecting many of the region's immigrant communities from deportation.

In a hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) asked for “nuance” in plans for a wholesale rescission of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), something the administration has axed for both Venezuela and Haiti.

It’s a small but notable pushback from within the GOP to Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

“Obviously I understand what the president is doing and the administration is doing,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told The Hill.

“But logic would tell you that you probably have a better chance to have legitimate asylum claims if you're coming from places like Cuba, Venezuela.”

It’s not just TPS that threatens to have major impacts in South Florida. The Trump administration has also revoked a parole program established under President Biden that allowed citizens of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela to apply for work permits so long as they could secure a U.S.-based financial sponsor.

Immigrants from all four countries had a longstanding presence in Miami communities well in advance of the Biden administration, but the moves by Trump threaten to jeopardize the status of many who have become established in the area.

Thus far it's been almost entirely Democrats and immigration advocacy groups that have challenged Trump’s actions to topple the programs.

Democrats have blasted the moves as an attack on those who have legal status in the United States, while various immigration groups have sued — and won — in court. 

One judge found Noem hadn’t sufficiently studied the issue in vacating the protections for Venezuelans recently renewed by her predecessor and said her decision “smacks of racism” given a series of comments she made about the country.

The Trump administration has asked for Supreme Court intervention after losing lower court battles that have stalled plans to end TPS for Venezuelans and parole for all four countries.

Gimenez said he, Diaz-Balart and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) hope to meet with Noem as soon as next week.

Diaz-Balart and Gimenez argue that people protected under both programs could be worthy asylum candidates who risk being deported from the U.S. as cases languish in a yearslong backlog. The status is given to those with credible claims of persecution in their home country.

“Nuance would be that instead of having wholesale deportations, it needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis, and really go back to the way it should have been to be allowed in the country in the first place,” Gimenez told The Hill. 

Though Diaz-Balart described the asylum process as “totally abused,” he also said the Trump administration has an opportunity to do a case-by-case analysis before deportations.

“We're hoping to be able to have something that the Biden administration never did, and that's not going on right now, which is more of a look at folks who might have legitimate claims of asylum,” he said.

TPS in particular is ignited to protect those already in the U.S. who would otherwise be returned to instability and civil unrest, and many Venezuelans who have fled the country have cited concerns over being targeted by the Marudo regime.

Salazar last week introduced legislation with Florida Democrats that would extend TPS for Venezuelans for another 18 months, something she said would “ensure law-abiding Venezuelans currently in the United States can stay here until conditions improve and they are not forcibly returned to a brutal dictatorship.”

Nicaragua is also under an authoritarian dictatorship, while the United Nations describes Haiti as being on the verge of “total chaos” amid escalating gang violence. And administrations of both parties have long condemned the communist government of Cuba.

Gimenez has backed many of Trump’s immigration policies, but he knows the request from the three members sets them apart from many in the Republican Party.

“We have a constituency to represent. We also know that the reality in Miami-Dade is not the same in reality as New York City. Our immigrant population, they don't end up in hotels and a lot of them were assimilated by their family and their friends. And they're part of the economy right now. And so the reality in our areas is different than the reality in other areas,” he said.

For those protected by parole, that is somewhat by design. In requiring applicants to secure a financial sponsor, the Biden administration essentially closed the pathway to those who did not have existing U.S. ties. 

The break with their party did earn the GOP lawmakers some Democratic kudos.

“It’s about time some Republicans acknowledged the cruelty of these policies,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) said in a statement to The Hill.

“Unfortunately, the vast majority of the GOP is fully on board with Trump’s mass deportation agenda. I welcome calls for a more case-by-case approach to TPS revocations because the alternative is mass expulsion of people who have lived, worked and raised families here for decades. TPS holders are our neighbors, our coworkers, and part of the fabric of communities across the country,” she added.

“I’m glad to see cracks in the GOP’s hardline stance, but now we need to turn that momentum into permanent protections.”

Noem on Wednesday didn’t offer specifics but said there could be “options” for some people.

“Those individuals — we’re working with them, and we'll have a chance to meet with you and the other congressmen to address their needs and see what their options are,” she said, noting that immigrants must receive 60 days notice before TPS can be revoked.

“So they have several months here that we can work on the solutions to make sure that they're in a program that's appropriate for their situation.”

But Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused the Trump administration of playing games with people’s lives.

"TPS has been an important humanitarian tool for decades,” he told The Hill in a statement.

“The Trump administration is trying to reverse this progress, strike due process, and humanitarian relief this program has offered for thousands of displaced individuals and their families. It is time to get back to the core of why the TPS program was created, to provide safe haven for those who cannot return to their native countries due to conflict, and not for it to be used as a political ploy."