by Natalia Mittelstadt
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday ended temporary protected status for more than 200,000 Venezuelans amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
DHS on Friday posted a Federal Register notice terminating the 2021 designation of Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status.
“After reviewing country conditions and consulting with the appropriate interagency partners, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in Venezuela no longer meet the statutory requirements for TPS,” DHS said.
The designation will end on Nov. 7, 60 days after the Federal Register notice publication.
“If you are an alien who is currently a beneficiary of TPS for Venezuela under the 2021 designation, you should prepare to return to Venezuela if you have no other lawful basis for remaining in the United States,” the department added.
DHS had announced on Wednesday that the temporary protected status would end, POLITICO reported.
The termination comes after President Donald Trump directed a missile strike on a suspected Venezuelan drug ship earlier this week, destroying the vessel and killing all 11 people on board.
The Department of Defense on Thursday night said two Venezuelan fighter jets flew over a U.S. Naval ship while it was in international waters in order to interfere with American operations.
“The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the US military,” the DOD said.
On Monday, Maduro said, “In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela.”
Maduro also called the eight American vessels off the Venezuelan shores the “biggest threat” South America had experienced in the last 100 years.
Last month, Venezuela mobilized its 4.5 million militia members after America sent military personnel to be around the edge of the country’s territorial waters, CNN reported.
“We defend our seas, our skies, and our lands. We liberated them. We guard and patrol them. No empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela, nor should it touch the sacred soil of South America,” Maduro stated.
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
