A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday would give Venezuelan refugees and illegal immigrants a path to legal residency and eventual citizenship in the United States.
The bill, called the Venezuelan Refugee Assistance Act, was introduced by Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Darren Soto (D-FL). The bill was cosponsored by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL).
“For over a decade, thousands of Venezuelans were forced to flee the brutal Chavez dictatorship, and now, the situation has not improved under his hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro,” Curbelo said, citing the socialist government’s political violence. “This bill will allow Venezuelan nationals who have made a new home in the United States to remain here if they choose to, since it is too dangerous to return home.”
“The whole world has seen all the heartbreaking images of children suffering from malnutrition, seniors facing life threatening illnesses who have no access to medicines or appropriate healthcare, desperate mothers trying to find food in the streets to feed their families,” said Soto. “Basic human rights and democracy must be restored in Venezuela. That’s why I am proposing this bill with Rep. Curbelo, so our brothers and sisters from Venezuela who are already in the United States receive protected immigration status as a result of this humanitarian crisis.”
The bill was introduced amid soaring asylum requests from Venezuela, according to VOA News. An astounding 18,155 Venezuelans submitted asylum requests last year, a 150 percent increase over 2015 and six times the level seen in 2014.
Not everyone, however, is thrilled with the new bill. Jason Kessler, leader of Unity and Security for America, sounded off against the bill.
“Despite the rhetoric coming from Representatives Curbelo and Soto, Venezuela is a democratic country where the majority voted for its socialist government,” Kessler said. “Do we really want to give tens of thousands of these refugees, many of whom still harbor socialist tendencies, an eventual path to citizenship? How will giving them the right to vote effect our own elections?”
Those in the United States illegally should go home or elsewhere in Latin America. Unfortunately, the majority do not understand US ideals and would better integrate elsewhere.
They fled a socialist hellhole. If anyone is going to appreciate the US and its values, it’s them.
You would think so, and I wish it were so too. Look at polling of Latino voters. You might want to also consider why they voted for Chavez in the first place.
There is a reason why Cubans typically lean conservative.
The Cubans of the 1960s do. The contemporary generation do not. The truth is that essentially all Latin America has problems with heavy socialism, aside from perhaps Chile, yet the Latino areas of the USA are the most Democratic Party supporting, and that includes Miami, where the Cubans have centered themselves.
let them settle in Gutanamo before repartriating to Venezuela.
Finally
Senator Kessler made a uninformed argument and it shows his lack of understanding. 99% of Venezuelans in the United states hate socialism or communism hence why they fled to the USA in the first place. 95% of Venezuelans have college and master degrees which makes them highly skilled professionals who would never validate any other system besides capitalism specially after living the so called Chavez revolution which ultimately took away everything they worked for in the name of socialism. It’s the same thing that happened to Cuba during the first years of the Castro revolution when the middle and upper class of Cubans fled to Miami. Those reasons alone make of Venezuelans a particular type of immigrants with the potential to benefit the US economy in the short term. Majority of middle class Venezuelans are entrepreneurs willing to open new businesses and creating new jobs. You don’t believe me? You gotta visit city of Weston or Doral in Florida which are opulent Venezuelan communities where even president Donald Trump has golf courts and other developments going on. I’m not surprised Florida senator curbelo and others understand this better than anyone
Is there a link for these statistics. 95% college and masters?
I take that as a no? Here’s the reality. Our own college graduates cannot find a job. I graduate next year and thank goodness there is a demand for my major. But do you think it is right to expect our own taxpayers’ graduates to be without a job to accommodate more coming in, no matter the number. I find it worthy of praise that you have artisans and entrepreneurs willing to open businesses. That would require capital. How are we going to be able to support these new ventures with small business loans, when we have middle class businesses here closing their doors. I am all for humanitarianism, but with all that brain power and education, you guys could do so much to improve on your own turf if we could get a lid on everything else over there. There is the lifeboat theory. Take too many in, and all fail. The climate for jobs here for graduates is bleak. Plus, students are laden in student loan debt they must pay back the government. We have you guys, and then Australia is on the horizon, and it will go on and on. And I am assuming you are from Venezuela or have relatives or friends there. I hate what y’all are going through, we but we have poverty at our own doorsteps in our own country.
Leave it to dumbass neocons to talk about how horrible socialism is, then turn around and shun socialist refugees for fleeing socialism.
So you invite termites that have eaten the house next door to the point it is collapsing, into your home…Our nation…Fuck these sub humans.
Asshole
What? Its not my fault they voted for marxism, which causes NOTHING but failure you sub human moron.