{"id":82448,"date":"2026-07-08T20:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T03:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=82448"},"modified":"2026-07-08T20:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T03:55:46","slug":"kortegabos-lacounty-gov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=82448","title":{"rendered":"Growing Calls for Trump to Reinstate TPS for Venezuelans in Wake of Twin Earthquakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Julieth Gualtero Baquero<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A building lies in ruins following twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24. (Credit Jackeline Rago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Editor\u2019s note: The last names of some of the sources cited in this report have been omitted at the express request of the interviewees. Although some of them hold U.S. citizenship, they plan to return to Venezuela to provide support to family and fear becoming targets of reprisals by the current government.<\/em><\/p>\n

OAKLAND, Calif. \u2014 The twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela June 24 are fueling calls for President Trump to reinstate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the roughly\u00a0600,000<\/a>\u00a0Venezuelans in the US who until recently were granted the designation.<\/p>\n

Many say that as the South American country struggles to recover, the role of the Venezuelan diaspora in sending needed resources is critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur country needs those of us who are outside,\u201d said Paola, who has lived in the Bay Area since first coming to the US in 2023. She was among those who lost legal status and work authorization after\u00a0Trump rescinded TPS for Venezuelans<\/a>\u00a0last October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe help we can send to our families and, in general, to all our brothers and sisters going through this tragedy,\u201d she added, \u201cif you have a way to work, you also have a way to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country as economic conditions deteriorated. While exact numbers are unavailable it is estimated that remittances accounted for up to\u00a07.5% of Venezuela\u2019s GDP<\/a>\u00a0in 2025.<\/p>\n

The first quake, measuring 7.2, struck Wednesday evening, June 24 around 6PM. It was centered in the La Guaira region, about 30 miles north of the capital, Caracas and along the country\u2019s Caribbean coast. The second hit the same region 30 seconds later, measuring 7.5.<\/p>\n

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A street in Venezuela\u2019s capital, Caracas, after twin earthquakes struck the region June 24. (Photo: Jackeline Rago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The rare double quake has left more than 3,500 dead, with estimates of up to 50,000 still missing or unaccounted for. Nearly 200 buildings were flattened, while preliminary satellite assessments by NASA warn that 58,870 structures were damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n

The economic toll from the disaster \u2014\u00a0the worst to hit the embattled country in more than a century \u2014\u00a0is projected to be north of $6.7 billion.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has so far shown no sign of reinstating TPS for Venezuelans despite the scope of the destruction. TPS is typically granted to individuals fleeing countries beset by war, violence and\/or natural disasters.<\/p>\n

Hours before the quakes struck, a plane carrying\u00a0147 Venezuelans<\/a>\u00a0deported from the US landed in the country and were housed in a complex near the epicenter. Of the total, only 12 have so far been confirmed alive.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, meanwhile, have begun to sound the alarm.<\/p>\n

On June 29, Democratic Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts introduced the\u00a0TPS Relief Act<\/a>, which would restore judiciary oversight over TPS cancellations. The measure would overturn a\u00a0June 25 Supreme Court ruling<\/a>\u00a0that gave the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)\u00a0ultimate authority over such decisions.<\/p>\n

DHS has moved to end TPS designations for 13 of the 17 previously designated countries. Critics contend the terminations fail to consider actual conditions on the ground in the affected nations.<\/p>\n

Moulton is joined by Republican Miami Congresswoman Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar, who has called on the president to extend TPS protections for Venezuelans by 18 months in the wake of the earthquakes and to halt continued deportations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot deport hundreds of thousands of people from the country overnight,\u201d Salazar wrote in a\u00a0July 6 post<\/a>\u00a0on the social media platform X. \u201cSimply put, today it is not safe to return them to their countries. It is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also growing criticism over the Venezuelan government\u2019s own response to the catastrophe both from within the country and from Venezuelans abroad.<\/p>\n

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Venezuelans in the Bay Area have united to send aid to their compatriots. At one donation center in Oakland around 1000 50lb boxes waited to be shipped on July 5. (Credit Julieth Gualtero)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMy parents were rescued, not by authorities, but by an engineer named \u00c1ngel and his mother, Milagros, a doctor who turned her home into a refuge and treated the wounded with her own medicine,\u201d said Victor, who is originally from Venezuela and now lives in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

He says a childhood friend remained buried with his youngest son for days after the disaster.<\/p>\n

Victor\u2019s parents lived in the Hugo Ch\u00e1vez Fr\u00edas Urban Development, a government complex of four-story buildings in La Guaira that were almost completely destroyed by the quakes. He initially assumed they had perished after videos began circulating on social media showing the complex in ruins.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother was saved because she was in the street at the time of the tremor,\u201d recalls Victor, \u201cand my father, who was on the first floor of the building, survived by holding tightly to a water pipe anchored to the ground while the structure cracked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recovery efforts are being hampered by severe shortages of equipment, food and other essentials, and, in some cases,\u00a0official interference<\/a>. Medicines are also reportedly in short supply.<\/p>\n

Victor\u2019s father suffers from diabetes, while his mother has early-stage dementia. He recently launched a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise money to support his family.<\/p>\n

Venezuelans in the Bay Area, meanwhile, have united to send aid to their compatriots. Donation centers were opened in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Oakland, and San Jose.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, July 5, around 1,000 50-pound boxes departed Oakland for Florida before heading to Venezuela. The shipment is being handled by the Florida-based non-profit Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), which will distribute the aid directly to victims through local networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know many are worried about the donations being commandeered by the government,\u201d said Alicia Molina, who helped organize the aid campaigns. \u201cThat\u2019s why we teamed up with GEM, who are independent and give us the certainty that everything will reach those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByJulieth Gualtero Baquero Jul 8, 2026...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82448"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82450,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82448\/revisions\/82450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}