On Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked a proposal for a bill to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Venezuelans in the United States.
TPS status can be designated for foreign nationals in the United States who are unable to safely return to their home countries, and allows them to live and work legally in the United States for a limited time without the threat of deportation. TPS has been granted to countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Nepal, and Syria, among others. There has been a push to grant TPS to Venezuelans due to the humanitarian crisis in their home country, which could be done through the passage of a bill in Congress or through executive action by the U.S. President, which President Trump has refused to do.
Democratic Senators Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Dick Durbin of Illinois introduced a proposal to the Senate to fast-track a bill that would grant Venezuelans TPS through the process of unanimous consent. This procedure, which operates in the way of a voice vote, can bypass usual Senate procedure to provide a faster way to pass pressing legislation. The proposal fails if one senator opposes it, which South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune did on behalf of Utah Republican Mike Lee.
Senator Durbin called the blockage a serious and deadly mistake for Venezuelans. The move came on the same day that the United Nation’s top human rights body, the Humans Rights Council, accused Nicolas Maduro’s government of crimes against humanity. Article 7 of the UN treaty that established the International Criminal Court defines crimes against humanity as acts committed as part of a “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.” The UN report cited cases of torture and extrajudicial killings by Venezuelan security forces, using techniques like electric shocks, genital mutilation, and asphyxiation and accounting for thousands of wrongful deaths in the country.
Senator Menendez highlighted President Trump’s refusal to unilaterally grant TPS for Venezuelans, which he has the power to do. “The fact of the matter is we have 200,000 Venezuelans who are currently in the U.S. and essentially at risk of deportation,” he said. “The president has all the authority he needs in the world to provide TPS and he hasn’t, so we’re trying to act.”
Similarly, Senator Durbin said that Democrats were forced to bring the bill to the floor again “since the White House wouldn’t act, more than one year ago the House passed a bipartisan bill granting TPS to Venezuelans.” “This administration could grant TPS on its own, but it refuses. Senate Republicans could pass the bipartisan House bill to grant Venezuelans TPS, but they also refuse. So let everyone be clear where the real failure to help Venezuelans in the U.S. rests,” he added.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has on numerous occasions pled to grant TPS to Venezuelans if elected, released a statement criticizing the rejection of the proposal in the Senate, which reads:
Republicans continue to prove all their tough talk on Maduro is nothing but empty words. Time and again, when it comes to taking real action, President Trump and his Republican allies have failed to support the Venezuelan people. As president, I will immediately grant TPS to Venezuelans already in the United States.
The rest of the statement can be found here. Speeches by Senators Menendez, Durbin, and Chris VanHollen of Maryland and Chuck Schumer of New York are below.
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