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Speaker 1: It's been almost ten years since Jose Sosa fled Venezuela

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Speaker 1: for political reasons.

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Speaker 2: Is he comes to Tournamente Basselli.

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Speaker 1: Today, he feels like he's back to square one, living

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Speaker 1: under the rule of another repressive government, this time in

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Speaker 1: the United States.

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Speaker 2: St Tsunezuelan.

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Speaker 1: Feeling targeted just for being Venezuelan is not fair, he

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Speaker 1: says Weela. It's a Saturday afternoon in April and Jose

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Speaker 1: is outside of Elarepaso of venezuelan restaurant and mainstay in Doral,

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Speaker 1: a small city in Miami Dade County. These days, the

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Speaker 1: city of Dorel goes by the nickname Dorezuela because of

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Speaker 1: the large number of Venezuelans who live there.

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Speaker 3: Ye.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Jose and his wife Bilin identify themselves as depianos.

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Speaker 1: That means they have deepe Essa TPS, or Temporary Protected Status.

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Speaker 1: Being a tepiano would allow people from specific countries to

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Speaker 1: stay in the United States temporarily if they cannot return safely,

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Speaker 1: either because of economic turmoil, environmental disasters, or extraordinary circumstances.

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Speaker 1: TPS is currently available to citizens of seventeen countries, including Venezuela.

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Speaker 1: It gives holders a temporary work authorization, and it allows

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Speaker 1: them to pay into Social Security.

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Speaker 4: For power screens.

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Speaker 1: And there's to Belitas momento. Today, dozens of people are

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Speaker 1: lighting belit us, seeking solidarity for bipart and support for

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Speaker 1: the future of Venezuelans in the United States. More than

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Speaker 1: six hundred thousand Venezuelans have TPS de peesa today, roughly

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Speaker 1: seven in every ten living in the United States. But

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Speaker 1: things have gotten particularly complicated for them in the last

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Speaker 1: few months. The Venezuelan gangs are the worst in the world.

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Speaker 5: They are vicious, violent people.

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Speaker 4: They're poisoning the blood of our country.

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Speaker 3: That's what they've done. We're moving with urgency and speed

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Speaker 3: to get these vicious and.

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Speaker 5: Violent criminals that held out of our country.

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Speaker 1: In late January, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome

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Speaker 1: announced that she was canceling the eighteen month TPS extension,

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Speaker 1: the one that the Biden administration had granted TPS holders

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Speaker 1: who received protection in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 3: They were going to be able to stay here and

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Speaker 3: violate our laws for another eighteen months, and we stopped that.

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Speaker 1: The Trump administration claims that Venicel Szuela no longer meets

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Speaker 1: conditions for TPS, but experts and Dipcianos disagree.

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Speaker 5: Political violence and economy in tatters, plus a disputed presidential

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Speaker 5: election have the people of Venezuela fearful and desperate. Millions

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Speaker 5: have already fled to other nations, including the United States.

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Speaker 1: Last year, the humanitarian information platform HUME Venezuela found that

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Speaker 1: almost twenty million people, about seventy percent of the population

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Speaker 1: of Venezuela, lives in poverty. Nikolas Maduro, the autocratic leader

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Speaker 1: of Venezuela, maintains his tight grip, and earlier this year,

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Speaker 1: the United Nations Human Rights Council found that harsh repression

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Speaker 1: and crimes against humanity are ongoing. So Venezuelans are scared

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Speaker 1: to go back.

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Speaker 6: It's in danger of lusing their lives or it's endange

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Speaker 6: you're about coming back to their country. In my case,

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Speaker 6: I left because my life and my whole, my entire

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Speaker 6: family was endangered.

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Speaker 1: All Latin America is by your side. We're all together

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Speaker 1: in this, yes, and we want to make But the

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Speaker 1: targeting of Venezuelans in the United States has Jose questioning

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Speaker 1: these country's who are values like freedom and justice for all.

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Speaker 1: Jose says he feels like he's being used as a

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Speaker 1: political pawn in an ill gotten negotiation, But there are

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Speaker 1: people advocating for Jose and for his community.

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Speaker 7: Cecilia Goal.

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Speaker 1: Cecilia Gonzalez is one of the most visible faces in

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Speaker 1: the fight for Venezuelans to remain in the United States.

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Speaker 1: She's one of the plaintiffs in a high stakes federal

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Speaker 1: case to preserve tps or tepees from Fudro Media and PRX.

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Speaker 1: It's Latino USA. I'm Maria in No Hoosa today, inside

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Speaker 1: the fight to defend the legal status of Venezuelans living

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Speaker 1: in the United States. Our Latino USA producer Dasha San

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Speaker 1: Noval is going to pick up the story from here.

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Speaker 3: Cecilia Gonzalez grew up in Barinas, Venezuela.

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Speaker 2: So Barinas is a small town kind of close to

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Speaker 2: the Columbian border.

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Speaker 3: Where that's Ugo chawis, the late socialist leader who ruled

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Speaker 3: Venezuela for more than a decade.

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Speaker 2: So everybody can meew each other and.

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Speaker 3: Cecilia's parents were vocal about their dissenting political beliefs, calling

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Speaker 3: out corruption when they saw it.

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Speaker 2: Which led to treads, which led to like, my mom

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Speaker 2: was victim of what we call an expressed kidnapped that

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Speaker 2: they kind of like kidnap you for short hours, they're

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Speaker 2: giving you a message.

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Speaker 3: So when Cecilia was eighteen, her parents decided it was

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Speaker 3: time to.

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Speaker 2: Go, and they're kind of like one letters to move here,

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Speaker 2: filed for an asylum and just been waiting for the

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Speaker 2: asylum to be reviewed.

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Speaker 3: They've been waiting since twenty seventeen. Before becoming a student

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Speaker 3: and an advocate, Cecilia had a hard time adjusting to

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Speaker 3: her new life in the US.

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Speaker 2: The depression that I faced when I just moved to

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Speaker 2: the US was was a result of me feeling I

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Speaker 2: didn't belong.

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Speaker 3: In Venezuela. Cecilia was a journalism student and an activist

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Speaker 3: in Central Florida. She struggled to find purpose.

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Speaker 4: I kind of like.

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Speaker 2: Did what I was supposed to. I got a job

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Speaker 2: work at the team park almost three years.

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Speaker 3: But then she got involved with a local advocacy organization,

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Speaker 3: Casa Venezuela.

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Speaker 2: And eventually kind of allow me to answer, oh who

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Speaker 2: am I? Okay? And a public servant and an advocate

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Speaker 2: and a volunteer and an immigrant and a daughter.

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Speaker 3: She found her footing, and soon she got into politics.

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Speaker 3: She helped form Venezuelano's port Biden and became a Latina

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Speaker 3: spokesperson for his twenty twenty campaign.

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Speaker 2: In the third hundred days, he got a TPIS for

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Speaker 2: Venezuela's in twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 3: That year, Cecilia and her family applied for TPS. They

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Speaker 3: qualified and were granted protection. Since then, Cecilia has been

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Speaker 3: working as a voting rights advocacy coordinator and going to

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Speaker 3: school at the same time. She's about to graduate with

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Speaker 3: a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of

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Speaker 3: Central Florida. Earlier this year, she was Florida Cartersman Darren

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Speaker 3: Soto's guest at the presidential address to Congress.

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Speaker 5: Cecilia Gonzalez a local Venezuelan immigrant activists who's been doing amazing.

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Speaker 3: Work in the district. With no answer on her family's

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Speaker 3: asylum request after eight years, Cecilia feels a greater sense

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Speaker 3: of stability under TPS.

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Speaker 2: The reality depending asylum is noah and status and thus

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Speaker 2: being reflected in so many spaces, including a school. When

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Speaker 2: you apply to go to college here, they asher for

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Speaker 2: your status.

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Speaker 3: TPS doesn't give access to federal financial aid for college,

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Speaker 3: but it can open the door to private grants and

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Speaker 3: scholarships at some universities.

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Speaker 2: TP kind of like an extra protection understanding that it

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Speaker 2: was always intended to be temporary that did not provide

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Speaker 2: a permanent solution, but it's an extra layer of protection

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Speaker 2: in case of in the worlds scenario.

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Speaker 3: By worst of scenarios, Cecilia means losing TPS and not

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Speaker 3: being granted asylum either, in short, becoming a poor That's

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Speaker 3: why preserving TPS is so important for her, and Cecilia says,

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Speaker 3: the fight is unfolding in more than one place.

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Speaker 2: They only have been two battles. There is going to

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Speaker 2: be a legal battle inside the course and they're going

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Speaker 2: to be the battle at the streets.

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Speaker 3: What we call part of her role as an activist

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Speaker 3: t Piana is about changing minds, getting the word out

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Speaker 3: that Venezuelans are not all criminals or gang members. According

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Speaker 3: to data from the US Treasury Department, eight hundred people

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Speaker 3: have been arrested for links to the trend of Agua gang.

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Speaker 3: That's only zero point zero eight percent of the Venezuelan

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Speaker 3: population living in the United States.

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Speaker 2: To ourministration, they're creating the narrative that immigrants are criminals.

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Speaker 2: All these six hundred thousand Venezuela wikipate they're old trend

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Speaker 2: that AWA members is sad, but we need to continue

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Speaker 2: proving this country and ourselves with that. We in the

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Speaker 2: are war seat to remain that we are hard working

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Speaker 2: people on it. That's some people that only the one

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Speaker 2: if being able to live here with dignity.

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Speaker 3: Under Secretary Nomes February Order. Cecilia's best friend was getting

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Speaker 3: ready to say goodbye to his mother, a TPS holder

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Speaker 3: on a recent visit. Cecilia found her packing and I.

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Speaker 2: Went up to her room and I see her like,

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Speaker 2: with all these clothes, and she can tell me these

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Speaker 2: two choose and she says, what size are you?

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Speaker 3: She was getting ready to leave for Columbia rather than

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Speaker 3: face possible deportation. Going back to Venezuela wasn't an option,

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Speaker 3: so neighboring Colombia, where about three million Venezuelans already live,

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Speaker 3: made sense.

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Speaker 2: And I remember being like, we're not doing this like

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Speaker 2: we are fighting. We're choosing to.

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Speaker 1: Fight coming up on Latino USA, Cecilia sues the federal

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Speaker 1: government in a case affecting the future of hundreds of

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Speaker 1: thousands of people stay with us. Yes, hey, we're back.

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Speaker 1: And before the break, we met Cecilia Gonzalez, an activist

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Speaker 1: in Venezuelan Dipsiana, or TPS holder. Cecilia is one of

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Speaker 1: the most visible faces in the fight to preserve TPS

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Speaker 1: for Venezuelans. Again. Here's producer Dasha Sandoval.

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Speaker 3: When we first spoke in mid March, Cecilia was getting

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Speaker 3: ready to go to California for the first hearing in

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Speaker 3: a federal lawsuit. The National TPS Alliance, a national member

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Speaker 3: led organization, and seven plaintiffs, including Cecilia, were suing the

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Speaker 3: federal government. Participating in the case was a no brainer

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Speaker 3: for her.

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Speaker 2: Both my parents that he caured their careers and their

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Speaker 2: adul life to speak true to power and then sacrifice

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Speaker 2: or their career reputation. They're all everything that they had

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Speaker 2: built for us to leave in this country constably and freely.

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Speaker 2: It saw away from me to honor their sacrifices.

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Speaker 3: Cecilia and her co plaintiffs accused the government of illegally

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Speaker 3: revoking the TPS extension granted by the Biden administration in

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Speaker 3: violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. They also alleged that

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Speaker 3: the government's actions were discriminatory and in violation of the

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Speaker 3: Fifth Amendment's equal protection guarantee for the government allowing Venezuelan

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Speaker 3: nationals to remain in the US is contrary to the

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Speaker 3: quote national interest. And then on March thirty, first, US

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Speaker 3: District Court Judge Edward M. Chen released his ruling.

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Speaker 1: Quit breaking news, just coming in right now. A federal

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Speaker 1: judge stop the Trump administration's plan to end protections for

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Speaker 1: up to three hundred and fifty thousand Venezuelans.

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Speaker 2: It felt relieved, but also super proud.

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Speaker 3: The order postpones DHS's actions, allowing all Venezuelan TPS holders

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Speaker 3: to retain their status as long as there's a pending

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Speaker 3: legal case or until October twenty twenty six, when their

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Speaker 3: protection is set to expire.

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Speaker 2: We won the victory on this is a Tenny victree.

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Speaker 2: I'm on a very long battle.

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Speaker 3: And it's a temporary win. The Trump administration filed first

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Speaker 3: day or a pause on Judge Chen's emergency ruling while

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Speaker 3: their appeal process is ongoing. The Ninth Circuit Court of

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Speaker 3: Appeals denied that request in April, but then on May first,

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Speaker 3: the government asked the Supreme Court to stay Judge Chen's order.

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Speaker 3: If the Court agrees, over three hundred and fifty thousand

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Speaker 3: Venezuelans with TPS would lose their status. Cecilia hopes the

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Speaker 3: temporary ruling is the beginning of a historic win for

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Speaker 3: Venezuelans in the US.

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Speaker 2: I was talking with some of my other Venezuela leaders

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Speaker 2: and we say we are writing a new chapter in

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Speaker 2: the immigration story in the US.

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Speaker 3: One of Cecilia's fellow leaders is Adelis Ferro, executive director

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Speaker 3: of the Venezuelan American Caucus Powered by Latino Victory, a

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Speaker 3: progressive organization that aims to grow Latino political power. She

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Speaker 3: was a declarant in the case and has become a

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Speaker 3: very public advocate for Venezuelans. She also helped host the

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Speaker 3: vigil for Venezuelans and Durrell, the event we started the

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Speaker 3: show with. We caught up there after the ruling I

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Speaker 3: had view. I asked a Lis why she thinks the

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Speaker 3: Trump administration is specifically targeting Venezuelans.

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Speaker 7: We are the most vulnerable diaspora in the United States.

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Speaker 7: We don't have representation, and we are the new diaspora,

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Speaker 7: the new immigrant exodus that have entered in big numbers

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Speaker 7: in the United States.

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Speaker 3: Though most Venezuelan migrants and refugees have gone to countries

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Speaker 3: other than the US, close to seven hundred thousand have

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Speaker 3: arrived in the US since twenty ten. Adelis believes the

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Speaker 3: Trump administration has made it a goal to deport as

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Speaker 3: many people as they can.

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Speaker 7: They need people to get deported. They need to fill

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Speaker 7: that quara, and we are the best target, the asiest one.

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Speaker 3: An Ending TPS is just one way the Trump administration

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Speaker 3: is trying to eliminate protections from deportation. On March twenty fifth,

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Speaker 3: DHS officially announced the termination of a humanitarian parole program

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Speaker 3: benefiting not just more than one hundred and twenty thousand

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Speaker 3: additional Venezuelans, but also close to half a million Haitians, Cubans,

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Speaker 3: and Nica Daguins.

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Speaker 1: The legal status of over half a million people living

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Speaker 1: in the United States was just reversed by the Trump administration.

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Speaker 3: But on April fifteenth, a federal judge in Boston blocked

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Speaker 3: the government's actions. Avelis let her community know on an

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Speaker 3: Instagram live we won. She announced. The ruling means that

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Speaker 3: so far both TPS and humanitarian parole are temporarily protected. Still,

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Speaker 3: the Trump administration has been insistent drawing a link between

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Speaker 3: people with legal status like TPS holders and the trend

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Speaker 3: Ragua gang. In February, Trump designated trind Ragua a foreign

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Speaker 3: terrorist organization.

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Speaker 4: The people of this country want these dirtbags out.

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Speaker 6: They want their communities to be safe.

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Speaker 3: Avelis remembers the moment in the courtroom when the judge

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Speaker 3: addressed these comments by Secretary Nome.

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Speaker 7: And whenever the judge asked the lawyers from the government,

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Speaker 7: they said that that was a misunderstanding. Annie was a

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Speaker 7: being like in the court because it was full packed, obviously,

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Speaker 7: and because he was insane.

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Speaker 3: Judge chen seventy eight page ruling reflected the courtroom shock.

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Speaker 3: He wrote that Secretary nomes rationale for swiftly terminating the

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Speaker 3: protected status quote smacks of racism. Chen added that there

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Speaker 3: was no evidence that TPS holders are members of Trindragua.

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Speaker 3: The first Trump administration also attacked TPS. It tried unsuccessfully

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Speaker 3: to do away with the status for ninety eight percent

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Speaker 3: of beneficiaries, but Judge Chen noted that it was the

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Speaker 3: first time in the TPS program's thirty five year history

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Speaker 3: that an administration tried to end an extension already in place.

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Speaker 3: Emmy maclain, an attorney for the ACLU of Northern California

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Speaker 3: representing the plaintiffs in the case, underscored this fact. The

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Speaker 3: decision to rescind an extension that had been granted by

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Speaker 3: a prior administration is entirely unprecedented.

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Speaker 1: It has never been done before.

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Speaker 3: There is no basis in law for it to be

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Speaker 3: done now. It all really highlights just how unstable the

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Speaker 3: status can be. After all, it was always intended to

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Speaker 3: be temporary. TPS isn't automatic. Applicants go through vetting. Those

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Speaker 3: who have been convicted of a felony or at least

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Speaker 3: two misdemeanors are not eligible. Plus, TPS is not meant

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Speaker 3: to provide a path to citizenship or even residency. For

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Speaker 3: a TPS holder, to gain permanent residency, they would need

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Speaker 3: to apply for a change of status, like having an

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Speaker 3: asylum case approved or obtaining a working visa. These other

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Speaker 3: statuses can be difficult to obtain, and some can take years.

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Speaker 3: For Cecilia, it's been eight years in counting. With a

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Speaker 3: life already in the US, the thought of returning to

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Speaker 3: Venezuela is unfathomable to her.

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Speaker 2: Even if I decided to come back to Venezuela today,

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Speaker 2: that life on the person I was doesn't exist anymore.

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Speaker 3: Like Cubans who have also escaped autocrats who conceal a

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Speaker 3: repressive government under the guise of socialism, Venezuelan Americans tend

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Speaker 3: to skew to the right politically.

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Speaker 4: Like so many other Venezuelans. She cheered when Donald Trump

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Speaker 4: was elected because of his tough approach to policies, such

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Speaker 4: as his promise to crack down on a violent Venezuelan

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Speaker 4: criminal organization. I would say the majority of the immigrants

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Speaker 4: here in our community bought into this platform of safety,

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Speaker 4: security and protected borders for our country.

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Speaker 3: So it's no surprise that got more than sixty percent

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Speaker 3: of the vote in Durrel, where over eighty five percent

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Speaker 3: of the population is Latino. I tried to speak to

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Speaker 3: these voters in April in Miami. Wait ah, duel, oh no,

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Speaker 3: why not perfict, But hardly anyone wanted to talk on

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Speaker 3: the record. Too much tension, too much fear. In mid April,

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Speaker 3: the Miami Herald reported that Doral may sign a contract

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Speaker 3: with ICE. It would allow the city's police to carry

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Speaker 3: out immigration enforcement, including interrogations, detentions, and processing. While some

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Speaker 3: Trump supporters feel betrayed by DHS's actions, others feel Optimisticristian

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Speaker 3: Monhans Christian is the director of the Venezuelan American Chamber

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Speaker 3: of Commerce. Though he spoke to me from his person

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Speaker 3: in all opinion, and though he wasn't explicit about his

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Speaker 3: personal political affiliation, he's sympathetic to the administration's America First mandate.

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Speaker 3: Karaoke el.

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Speaker 5: Donald trumpada the America.

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Speaker 3: First, and he believes that Trump's initial measures will eventually

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Speaker 3: benefit the country put it back to its number one status.

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Speaker 3: Tomento Maron. As for TPS, Christian believes the program was

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Speaker 3: offered too liberally.

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Speaker 7: Talentosa Hendrixtraordinaria Lamento Lemente.

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Speaker 3: Christian says there are really talented people in our community

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Speaker 3: that sadly will have to leave the country because they

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Speaker 3: haven't started another immigration process. Furthermore, he stressed that TPS

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Speaker 3: is meant to be temporary, suggesting it isn't the right path.

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Speaker 2: There is no wet side that I can apply and

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Speaker 2: say to move to go to the US the right

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Speaker 2: way that doesn't exist.

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Speaker 3: Cecilia concedes that there are investor visas for the rich,

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Speaker 3: green cards through marriage if you happen to fall in

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Speaker 3: love with a US citizen, and of course asylum, but

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Speaker 3: as has been her case, apending asylum application is no

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Speaker 3: guarantee of a permanent legal status. She's hopeful that Judge

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Speaker 3: Chen's temporary ruling and the bigger fight to protect TPS

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Speaker 3: are stepping stones to broader immigration reform.

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Speaker 2: These battle the sail precedent. They are gonna come out

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Speaker 2: in two three year whenever it comes, when we will

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Speaker 2: find permanent the lusia that provide dignity and the stability

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Speaker 2: to the immigrant community, we will be one of the

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Speaker 2: part of the well lamped chapter or the immigration fight

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Speaker 2: in this country.

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Speaker 3: In February, days after Secretary Nomes termination of the TPS extension,

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Speaker 3: House members from both parties reintroduced the Venezuelan Adjustment Act.

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Speaker 3: The bill would provide a path to lawful permanent residence

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Speaker 3: for Venezuelans who have been in the US since before

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Speaker 3: December thirty one, twenty twenty one, and for those who

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Speaker 3: meet a slew of other criteria related to their status.

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Speaker 3: Like any bill, it would need to pass both Houses

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Speaker 3: of Congress before becoming law.

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Speaker 7: Haki Hakis.

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Speaker 3: Back at the Joel and Jerral Adelis reminded attendees what's

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Speaker 3: at stake.

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Speaker 7: I want to tell Venezuelans that they are not alone,

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Speaker 7: that we are organizing that now is not only Venezuelans,

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Speaker 7: seventeen diasporas ha TPS in this country and more than

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Speaker 7: eleven million immigrants needs an immigration reform, and we are

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Speaker 7: not giving up. We're going to keep fighting for the

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Speaker 7: immigration reform in this country and we'll make it happen.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: Comprehensive immigration reform. That's the ultimate goal for Adelis, for Cecilia,

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Speaker 3: and for many of the hundreds of thousands of TPS

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Speaker 3: holders who are making a life here. Josse, the TPS

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Speaker 3: holder we heard from at the very top of the show,

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Speaker 3: hopes he can continue to contribute here as so many

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Speaker 3: immigrants have ambitol and Jose's kids have had a chance

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Speaker 3: to grow up in the US and they've experienced freedom,

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Speaker 3: he says, so it's difficult to explain to them what's happening. Still,

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Speaker 3: the initial triumph of the lawsuit and the ongoing fight

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Speaker 3: with Cecilia, Abelis and others at the front gives Jose

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Speaker 3: a dose of hope he trusts freedom will prevail.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Tasha Sandoval, who was edited

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Speaker 1: by Andrea Lopez Gruzado. It was Big Spy Stephanie Lebau

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Speaker 1: fact checking for this episode by Monica Morales Garcia. The

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Speaker 1: Latino USA team also includes Roxana Guire, Julia Caruso, Felicia Dominguez,

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Speaker 1: Fernanda Chavari, Jessica Ellis, Victoria Strada, Dominique Estrosa, Renaldo Leanoz Junior,

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Speaker 1: Luis Luna, Marta Martinez, JJ Carubin, Nur Saudi and Nancy Trujillo. Bennileeiramidez,

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Speaker 1: Marlon Bishop, Maria Garcia and myself are co executive producers.

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Speaker 1: And I'm your host, Barriero Coosa. Join us again on

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Speaker 1: our next episode. In the meantime, I'll see you on

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Speaker 1: social media. You know where to find me, and you

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Speaker 1: know what I'm about to say, not Va, Yes Bye.

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Speaker 4: Latino USA is made possible in part by Skyline Foundation.

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Speaker 4: The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for

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Speaker 4: the nation's children by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity,

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Speaker 4: and transforming communities, and funding for Latino USA's coverage of

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Speaker 4: a culture of health is made possible, in part by

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Speaker 4: a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.