Venezuelans fleeing oppression coming to Texas

 Dallas Morning News/Houston Chronicle:

Although not all Venezuelans will benefit from the recently announced Temporary Protected Status granted by the Biden administration, many who continue to arrive in the country in search of a better future are choosing North Texas to settle and restart their lives.

The arrival of Venezuelans into the country has increased over the last five years due to that country’s economic and political turmoil. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, 6 million Venezuelans have fled their country.

Earlier this month President Joe Biden extended the Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans who had entered the country before March 8, 2021. This designation doesn’t confer legal status and only offers protection against deportation and a temporary job permit.

But recent arrivals like the Cuevas family of Lewisville do not qualify for this benefit and find themselves in a migratory limbo.

Néstor Cuevas, his wife and three daughters arrived to the U.S. in January after they left their extended family and possessions behind in Barinas, a central state of Venezuela. Cuevas said the family had no choice but to leave because Venezuela could not offer a stable life, and their lives were threatened every day by the growing violence.

According to Human Rights Watch, Venezuela is currently among the countries with the highest murder rates in the world.

Earlier this week, A Department of State travel advisory recommended U.S. citizens to “Do not travel” to Venezuela “due to crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, kidnapping, and the arrest and detention of U.S. citizens without due process or fair trial guarantees.”

“We had to leave or we were going to get killed,” said Cuevas, 40. “So we decided to get in touch with some acquaintances in Dallas. We packed our stuff, said goodbye to our family, and we told our youngest daughters that we were going on vacation and would be back (to Venezuela) soon.”

On New Year’s Day, they decided to start a new life in a new country.

They arrived in the U.S. after turning themselves to immigration authorities on Jan. 1 at the border entry point in San Luis, Arizona, which borders San Luis Río Colorado in the Mexican state of Sonora.

They left Venezuela by plane in December 2021 and spent three weeks traveling through different states in Mexico. They were joined by Cuevas’ brother, his wife and daughter.

“We bought a vacation package and spent several days in Playa del Carmen (in South Mexico.) The girls enjoyed the tours and everything, but we were only thinking about getting to the United States,” Cuevas said.

Cuevas and his wife were high school teachers in Venezuela and co-owned an industrial recycling business. He said decided to leave the country after they were threatened for refusing to pay “monthly fees” to the military.

At the Arizona crossing point, the family applied for political asylum. They went through several ICE processing centers before being released in Los Angeles.

A few weeks later, they were picked up by an acquaintance at D-FW International Airport.
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There is more.

 Venezuela has been poorly run ever since the leftists and the communist took over what was once a prosperous country.