Jaguars and Faces
By 
From any reasonable political perspective, Donald Trump would embrace the masses of Venezuelan migrants to the United States that have helped turn Florida to the far right. After all, they all hate Maduro and anything that reeks of socialism. But Trump just hates immigrants and doesn’t care about political calculations like this. And he’s always been completely upfront about his hate, that’s for sure.
So while I feel bad for all these Venezuelans in Florida who support Trump, I have to say that I can’t feel that bad for them since they brought this on themselves.
The decision to cancel temporary protected status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans has ignited fear, confusion and outrage in this Miami suburb, which is affectionately known as “Doralzuela.” Venezuelans here have been some of Trump’s biggest proponents. Even if many could not vote, they attended rallies, decorated their front lawns with Trump flags, and took to social media to support the man they thought would prioritize removing Nicolás Maduro from power.
For many Venezuelans, Trump’s decision feels like betrayal.
“The Venezuelan community gave President Trump their support,” said John De La Vega, a Venezuelan American immigration lawyer and Army veteran. “This is completely different of what I thought it was going to be.”
…
Some of Trump’s most dramatic inroads with Latino voters were made in Doral, where roughly 40 percent of the city’s residents have Venezuelan roots. He went from losing the city in 2016 to narrowly winning it in 2020. In the 2024 election, he won 62 percent of the vote in Doral, beating Vice President Kamala Harris by 25 percentage points, according to an analysis of Miami-Dade County precinct data.
Andrea Gabriela Rangel Walther, 29, is among those who thought Trump would shield Venezuelans from deportation. She said the overwhelming majority of her friends and family supported Trump — including her father, who is now at risk of being removed from the country. His TPS expires in April.
She knew Trump had vowed to deport immigrants who committed crimes and singled out members of Venezuela’s feared Tren de Aragua gang as initial targets. That was something she agreed with and welcomed. But she didn’t expect Trump to conflate criminals with Venezuelans like her parents and younger brother.
“He’s been to Doral. He’s been to Miami,” she said between bites of an empanada at a small Venezuelan restaurant. “He knows all Venezuelans aren’t Tren de Aragua.”
Or does he? I don’t know, you are getting what you asked for.
De La Vega’s dismay turned into anger when he read Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s termination notice. In it, she argued that Venezuelans no longer needed protection, in part becausethere had been “notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime.”
“Trump knows exactly what’s going on in Venezuela, and these actions and these reports that they’re filing are completely inconsistent with the reality,” he said. “Was ‘America First’ policy then for us to send innocent people back to a regime? Is that what we do?”
Yes, Obviously. That’s exactly what this is.