US Extends Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans for 18 Months

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is providing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants with an 18-month extension of their temporary protected status, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday.

"Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas is extending the designation of Venezuela for temporary protected status (TPS) for 18 months," the DHS said in a press release.

The 18-month extension will be effective from September 10 through March 10, 2024, the release said.

Venezuelan migrants who were already in the United States as of March 8, 2021, are eligible for temporary protected status and are 343,000 in total, the release said.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals have continued to emigrate to the United States even though they are not eligible for temporary protected status. Nearly 150,000 Venezuelan migrants have come to the United States over the last 20 months, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection.

In 2018, Venezuela held a presidential election in which incumbent President Nicolas Maduro won. The United States did not recognize the results of the election and introduced a series of sanctions against Venezuela, but mostly targeting the country’s oil industry.

Maduro has accused the US government of working with opposition figure Juan Guaido to overthrow the democratically elected government and seize its natural resources. According to a 2019 study co-authored by renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, US sanctions have killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans.