For one family of Venezuelan asylum-seekers, the news they have been waiting for

On Sept. 20, the secretary of Homeland Security announced that the United States was extending what’s called “temporary protected status” to migrants from Venezuela.

“What does it mean?” the father said he asked his lawyer as news from Washington quickly spread through the hotel in Cheektowaga where his family has been staying since early July.

“He said ‘This is exactly what you’ve been wanting.’ This is fantastic,” the father told The Buffalo News.

It meant that the man, his wife and their 4-year-old daughter would be protected from being removed from the country. And it also meant that he and his wife would be able to get their work authorizations much faster than others in the asylum-seeking process – as soon as 30 days after the registration for the status opens.

“We just want to be able to work and pay for ourselves,” the father said.

Nearly half a million Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. may be eligible for the extended protected status, according to Homeland Security. Venezuelans make up about 40% of the roughly 125,000 migrants who have arrived in New York since this spring. Of the 550 or so migrants staying in hotels in Cheektowaga and Amherst, about 290 are from Venezuela.

For months, New York leaders have been pleading with the Biden administration to speed up the work authorizations for all asylum-seekers who often have to wait at least six months before being able to even apply for the permits. Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have both said New York City’s shelter system is beyond capacity and that the best way to reduce the need is to let people work and support themselves.

The Biden administration instead extended the protected status to Venezuelan migrants who arrived in the U.S. by July 31.

Among those migrants is this Venezuelan family of three – a father, mother and their 4-year-old daughter – now…