The 39-year-old mother and two children survived a journey through one of the most dangerous places on earth to escape their native Venezuela for a new life in the United States.
But nearly five months since arriving in Buffalo, her biggest fear is still her home country.
“Before I left, I participated in some marches and protests against the conditions in our country, and an organizer of the protests came to my house,” she said in Spanish, translated by Catharine Grainge of Jericho Road Community Health Centers in Buffalo.
“A violent group controls the area that I lived in, so I fear for my kids’ life and my own life because we are not part of that gang.”
That fear – shared by millions of Venezuelans who have fled their homeland under Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian rule – is why the United States extended Temporary Protected Status to Venezuela Oct. 3.
The TPS designation, which allows migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe to temporarily live and work in the United States, has sparked a flurry of action among humanitarian agencies working to help more than 200 Venezuelans sheltering in Buffalo area hotels apply as soon as possible.
The New York Immigration Coalition organized what it called a “blitz” of legal clinics around the state to connect migrants with attorneys to walk them through the TPS application process.
“Once filed, it can take 10 to 18 months for them to receive TPS, so we had a huge push in October and November,” said Grainge, director of advocacy for Jericho Road, which assists migrants with health and legal aid….
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