Following the recent capture of Venezuela’s president and evolving U.S. immigration policy, thousands of Venezuelans and other South Americans seeking refuge are confronting a complicated and uncertain asylum process.
Raul Romero has been in the United States for nearly four years pursuing asylum. The asylum seeker from Peru says the process has become progressively more difficult under the current administration.
“The situation with ICE scares me,” Romero said. “I’m afraid they’ll get me and send me back to my country, and I won’t be able to take any of my belongings. I’ll have nothing.”
Romero says his case has moved slowly, with several appointments canceled. Still, he says recent developments in Venezuela give him hope for change, describing Venezuelans as “our brothers … South Americans like us” who came to work and “survive day by day.”
Advocates say the uncertainty facing asylum seekers has intensified amid shifting immigration policies. Vanessa Frank, Executive Director of Mariposa Advocacy and Legal Services, which serves low-income residents across the Central Coast, says recent changes have added complexity to already challenging cases.
The U.S. government recently ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for many Venezuelans, exposing hundreds of thousands to possible deportation or the need to seek another form of legal relief, such as asylum.
An asylum application requires evidence that harm has occurred in the applicant’s home country and that their government cannot protect them, Frank explained. Under current policy, she added, even proving danger abroad may not guarantee success here.
“An asylum application is … yes, harm happened to you in the past in your own country, and your government cannot protect you, and to win asylum you have to show that,” Frank said. “But for now … I wonder if our administration is going to say [Venezuela] is safe, because we are running that country.”
Frank added that as the rules continue to change, so do the risks for asylum seekers.
For many people like Raul, the path to asylum remains uncertain.
