MIAMI — Unattainable travel documents keep Venezuelan migrants from boarding flights after relatives’ deportations. A nonprofit stepped in to help, but they need solutions.
Yelitza Pérez, the 29-year-old mother of two girls, said President Donald Trump’s administration deported her husband to Venezuela, and she couldn’t afford to stay in the U.S. without him.
Pérez opted to self-deport. But once she arrived to her connecting flight at Miami International Airport, the airline did not allow her to board her flight to Venezuela without a safety pass.
“Oh my God! I almost wanted to die,” Pérez said.
The only way the airlines would allow her to fly to Venezuela was if she was able to get a pass or “salvoconducto” from a Venezuelan consulate or embassy, but those were closed in 2019.
Pérez was part of a larger group of Venezuelans who slept with their children at MIA, where they were unable to afford a hotel or food.
“I sat with my children to cry,” a mother, who asked to be referred to as Jennifer, said.
Pérez and Jennifer said they reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to explain the dilemma. A CBP representative told Jennifer that CBP couldn’t help her.
“They couldn’t help me without a passport,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer reached out to a stranger on TikTok, who promised to help her in exchange for cash. The opportunistic fraudster stole her $520.
Miami-based nonprofit Hermanos De La Calle helped the vulnerable Venezuelans to get a place to stay and food while they remained stuck in a hopeless limbo.
Homeland Security has yet to respond to a request for information about the cases. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar said she and her team were trying to find solutions.
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