FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] My dear sister. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] That’s Soila.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Happy birthday for the gringos. May God and the Blessed Virgin watch over you and protect you.
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] I hope you enjoyed your day. I love you so much. I miss you. You’re my favorite aunt.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Thank you, my love, thank you. I love you. I love you.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] May you have many more birthdays.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Thank you.
It smells like rain.
Let’s cut the cake.
FEMALE VOICE:
[Speaking Spanish] Do you have candles?
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes.
MALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] Alexa, play the Venezuelan version of “Happy Birthday.”
ALEXA:
[Speaking Spanish] Here’s “What a Beautiful Night.”
PARTY GUESTS:
[Singing in Spanish] Your closest friends are with you tonight. They celebrate you and wish happy birthday.
MALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] They’re going to call ICE on us! [Laughter] Happy birthday!
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I hope God keeps giving us life and health so we can keep being together and that everything we have planned comes true. Amen. With the saints’ blessings. Exactly.
MALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] Out with Maduro! Amen.
Yineska and her family are among nearly a million Venezuelans who’ve fled to the U.S. in recent years to escape their country’s political and economic turmoil.
Under the Biden administration, over 700,000 Venezuelans were granted temporary legal status to live and work in the U.S.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
And the Biden administration announced a temporary protected status update in an attempt to properly address the migrant crisis.
MALE SPEAKER:
It is our responsibility to build safe, lawful and humane pathways that create opportunities for them.
Since coming to the U.S. in 2023, Yineska and her family have been living near Doral, Florida.
DONALD TRUMP:
Hello, Doral! I love Doral. Hello Miami and hello Florida!
MALE NEWSREADER:
It is now official. CNN projects that Donald Trump has been elected president—
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Trump won with 61% of Doral, home to the largest Venezuelan American population in the U.S.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
The Doral area, they call it “Little Venezuela,” right?
It’s an incredible community, and I like them and they like me.
MALE NEWSREADER:
President Trump is starting his second term with a hard stance on immigration.
MALE NEWSREADER:
President Trump ends the Biden-era humanitarian program.
MALE NEWSREADER:
Officers can prioritize for rapid deportations of migrants who arrived under the program.
KAROLINE LEVITT:
TPS was only supposed to be used in times of war, storm or destruction in the home countries of these migrants. It was completely abused.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Venezuelans who are living legally in Doral, Florida, are now worried.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Those who supported President Trump during the election now saying they feel lied to and betrayed.
CROWD [chanting in Spanish]:
Freedom, freedom, freedom!
FEMALE PROTESTER:
Beyond betrayed. They used us!
MALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] We deserve a better destiny.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] We have set our sights on a future here. They are calling all of us illegal, even though we have legal status.
I’m going to do everything we’re legally entitled to do so we can stay here in the United States for my children.
January 2025
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] And what time do you have to, you told me?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] I have to be at the warehouse at 3:30 p.m.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] And you can’t go by bike because you don’t know if you’re going to come back directly from there to here.
I don’t even know how to prepare this chicken.
If Venezuela had been in the same conditions as when I was a child, I wouldn’t have left with my children. My childhood and teenage years were very happy. When I got pregnant with Sebastián, I was 22 years old. Almost two years later, Gabriel was born. My children are my everything.
I had a strong feeling that the situation was changing in Venezuela.
MALE NEWSREADER:
[Speaking Spanish] Crime plaguing the country is compounded by a severe food shortage.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
[Speaking Spanish] Blackouts are increasing despite efforts to ration electricity.
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] I remember being 8 when we started losing power, water and gas. We had to wait in lines for food.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] There was a lot of political persecution. You couldn’t speak against the government.
MALE NEWSREADER:
[Speaking Spanish] Riots erupt in a new day of protests in Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] All of this scared me a lot because my children were growing up.
I started working at Valencia Airport, and when a governor who was sympathetic to the government won, I stopped working there.
RAFAEL LACAVA, Governor of Carabobo:
[Speaking Spanish] Let’s give a huge round of applause to our president, Nicolás Maduro, the one who made it possible for us to be here.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] If you’re working there, it’s mandatory to support the government and say that the people are with them.
In 2020, my relationship with Eduard began. From day one, he treated them as if they were his own children.
We had a meat shop, although it wasn’t very successful. So he decides to come to the United States. But once he arrived there, things started to get more difficult. At that time, the Mexico–U.S. border was open. That’s what people were saying. My parents told me, “Go, for your children.” Gabriel was 13, Sebastián 14 and my nephew 22.
Sept. 18, 2022
Goodbye party
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I headed to Miami because Eduard was here.
The route crosses the Darién jungle until reaching Panama.
MALE NEWSREADER:
—with Venezuelan migrants as they made their way across a dangerous 66-mile stretch of jungle known as the Darién Gap. A humanitarian crisis unlike any.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] It was a very dangerous place. People were dying. They had to bury them in the jungle or leave their bodies there and move on.
No country was as difficult for us as when we arrived in Mexico. We found out that the border had been closed.
January 2023
PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN:
Today my administration is taking several steps to stiffen enforcement. Do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are, and apply legally from there.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] We were exhausted. We had no more money.
Just when I feel I’m about to drown, humanitarian parole became available for Venezuelans. And by April 7 [2023], I was here. We began a new life.
April 7, 2023
The family was reunited and granted different temporary statuses to live in the U.S.
Gabriel, Yineska and Sebastián
Status: Humanitarian parole
Temporary legal status for urgent humanitarian cases.
Protection from deportation for two years for a limited number of Venezuelans who clear background checks and have U.S. sponsors.
Until: April 5, 2025
Eduard
Status: Temporary Protected Status
Temporary protection from deportation for migrants from unstable countries.
Expanded in 2023 to cover Venezuelans already living in the U.S.
Until: April 7, 2025
Wilker
(Yineska’s nephew)
Status: Pending asylum claim
Protection from deportation to individuals claiming persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political views or membership in a particular social group.
Court date: October 2025
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] At first everything was so nice. I made it. I’m here, yes, I did it! And it was so incredible! Now, to adapt. You don’t rule here. You go by the rules here.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Lourdes, she is already crossing the avenue. Please close it there. Thank you.
FEMALE GPS VOICE:
[Speaking Spanish] Turn left onto Southwest Eighth Street.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] When I arrived, I had numerous debts from my journey. And my income began to help pay, pay, pay.
I work for a package shipping company. 12:30 a.m. is the start time. And there is always a shortage of staff.
It was so hard for me to get my work permit, which means I’m working legally.
I never depended on the government because I don’t want to be a burden.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Since I arrived, I haven’t stopped. Work, work, work, always in Doral.
If we manage to stay in this country, I’d like us to have our own business.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Sebastián, we need to call Miami Dade College regarding your scholarship.
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] I think I have an F, by the way.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] What?
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] Because they moved me out of that class.
Look, see? A, A, A, A, A and an F.
When we started living here I said, “Mom, I want to study.” That’s my next goal, to graduate from high school. Like a movie. And I can say, “I graduated in the United States,” you know?
Jan. 20, 2025
MALE ANNOUNCER:
Ladies and gentlemen, the president-elect of the United States, the honorable Donald John Trump.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Since Donald Trump took office, a radical change began with immigration laws.
We started to feel afraid.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Breaking news this morning.
MALE NEWSREADER:
President Donald Trump ends the humanitarian parole program.
MALE SPEAKER:
Anyone on these programs is going to need to figure out a new status, and if not they will become undocumented.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] They had welcomed us for two years. To have your hopes suddenly cut off. It’s as if you’re standing on a rug that’s pulled out from under you and you fall. It was an emotional blow for me and for the entire family.
I need to talk to someone who can give me a little peace of mind, who can advise me, because I don’t know anyone.
PATRICIA ANDRADE, Director, Raíces Venezolanas:
[Speaking Spanish] Outside, there are four families waiting.
Hello. Hello. Is everyone going to ask for help?
Take whatever you want. All I ask is that you leave me the hangers.
If you can apply for TPS, do it. Because once your humanitarian parole ends, TPS protects you. But don’t stop there. That’s a temporary status. If they extend it, they could take it away from you at any moment.
If you think you qualify for asylum, you need to justify it, because any application filed after one year
in the U.S. is considered late. And that’s the first thing the judge will notice. You go into court with one hand tied behind your back.
Jan. 24, 2025
Yineska and sons
Status: Humanitarian parole until April 5
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] For Spanish, press 1. [Speaking English] For English, press 2.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
You are caller number 14 in the queue.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] At the time, we couldn’t afford the asylum application. Because everything went to paying debts, rent and sending money to our parents.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
Please wait for the next available agent.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] The possible scenarios for me are horrible.
I don’t know how many times it has rung. Please answer.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
The party you are trying to reach is busy and cannot take your call.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] … for legal advice about my status with my children here in the country …
Please, as soon as possible.
Feb. 5, 2025
Eduard
Status: TPS suspended, effective April 7
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Trump administration is reversing a Biden-era extension of the temporary protected status program for Venezuelan migrants.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
The move means some Venezuelans with TPS could be facing deportations as early as two months from now.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I didn’t sleep last night. Who would have imagined that practically all our hopes would fall apart?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] We’ll have to wait and see what the lawyer is going to tell us.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I still have my parole until?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Until it expires.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Until April. On the other hand, parole and TPS are …
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Two months.
Immigration attorney’s office
Brickell, Fla.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] What did you think of what we heard from the lawyer? How did it make you feel?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] I feel even more scared.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Afraid of what?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] They already have your information, and whenever they want, they can come after you.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] But they already have it.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Aha.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Everything he said made sense to me, everything, everything, everything.
Before you go to court, they can issue a deportation order, send immigration agents to your exact
location and that’s it. It’s over.
One thing for sure, I am not going back to Venezuela.
Perhaps there’s a chance they will extend TPS.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Sure, we could start over anywhere. But what about the kids? They have an opportunity to grow up here, right?
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] So the ideal thing would be to apply for asylum because there will come a time when we won’t have legal status.
Livestream with immigration activists
ADELIS FERRO, Activist [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Here’s someone asking, “But why against us?” Because an electoral campaign was used to hurt us. We were the target of hatred and xenophobia. Hard and very complicated days are coming. We’re going to fight with every tool the law gives us.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Venezuelans that have come into this country are members of TdA.
IMMIGRATION LAWYER [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] She has said that the people who have arrived in the United States in recent years are members of Tren de Aragua. What she didn’t say was that only certain people they’ve identified …
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Some of them. A minority.
IMMIGRATION LAWYER [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] And they are going to take away the benefits of TPS from more than 300,000. That makes no sense at all.
Most Venezuelan Americans voted for President Trump. They gave him that gift, their trust.
They can send you to Guantanamo, where due process gets a lot more complicated.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Everything! Completely cut off.
IMMIGRATION LAWYER [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] The Trump administration is pushing the narrative that the problems in Venezuela have been resolved.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I still don’t understand how they can say that the situation in Venezuela is resolved.
She called me yesterday and told me, “If you’re going to work, be very careful, because here at the exit of 129th and Eighth, the police were stopping vehicles.”
The children were in the room. Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell them. Those are adult problems.
I felt very scared just imagining the possibilities. If something happened to me, the kids would be left unprotected.
And I decided not to go. I didn’t go to work. I didn’t go.
I forgot that I was still protected by parole to work legally.
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] There are things that affect you whether or not you want them to. You say, “OK, that has nothing to do with me.” But the simple fact that I am Venezuelan terrifies you because it means that I walk around with a sign on my forehead and it’s like I am just like all the rest.
National TPS Alliance Meeting
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Thank you for connecting.
We have to stay calm right now. They’re trying to make everyone panic.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] We are preparing a case that protects all Venezuelans with TPS. At best we hope for an outcome that will allow you to keep your status until October 2026. The fact that you have a pending asylum application does not give you protection against deportation. Without TPS you could be deported.
Feb. 21, 2025
Status: Humanitarian parole and TPS expire in less than two months
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Attorneys from the ACLU and other organizations have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging its decision to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.
Yineska decides to apply for TPS in case it is reinstated.
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] Right now, I feel a little lost. I see my mom being depressed.
What happens if I go back to my country? Everything I’ve learned here is useless because there’s no bright future in Venezuela.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] This was not what I’d planned. Everything fell apart.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] At some point during this [Instagram] Live, we said it was already active.
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] It’s probably someone who came in on humanitarian parole who thinks [TPS] applications aren’t being processed anymore. Yes, they are, so you can apply through the USCIS application.
Be careful. If April 2 passes and you don’t register for the first time …
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] What? What?
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Call the girl who did your TPS. Ask her, what are the chances of my wife applying for TPS with my children? Only TPS.
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] OK.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Please, let me know.
I feel this administration is going to find a way to make it impossible for us to have peace of mind. I feel like nothing is certain anymore.
March 24, 2025
Status: Humanitarian parole and TPS expire in two weeks
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] So, application for temporary protection, TPS. Unfortunately, this doesn’t have a Spanish version. Everything is in English.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] It was fine there.
Today, I’m going to apply for TPS, which is practically the only option we have now. We had made a payment to apply for asylum, and they never worked on our case. We left it [unfinished] because I can’t afford to lose more money.
Either you find a way to adjust your status or you have to leave.
FEMALE VOICE [on phone]:
File a form online.
YINESKA:
File … [Speaking Spanish] But that one doesn’t appear.
Here’s mine, Gabriel’s.
[Speaking English] Record number. [Speaking Spanish] This one, right?
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] That’s not it.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] OK, calm down, please.
You have to read carefully above, please.
Wait, let me translate this.
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] Medical certificate. Your passport, the cover …
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Are you now the tutor or companion?
Have you ever missed an immigration proceeding?
Have you ever entered the United States as a stowaway? No.
Did you leave voluntarily? No.
USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], $80.
They already charged me. It’s not like it’s up in the air, no!
MALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] … in front of the federal court in San Francisco in the defense of TPS for our generation.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] This judge won’t make decisions hastily.
[Speaking English] We did ask him to make a decision as quickly as possible. There are people who are having to make decisions in less than two weeks.
March 31, 2025
Status: A judge blocks the Trump administration’s effort to suspend TPS
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
A judge has paused the Trump administration’s plans to end temporary legal protection for Venezuelans.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
This ruling is a relief for 350,000 Venezuelans that were set to lose their temporary protections granted
to them …
The Trump administration appeals the court order to continue TPS.
MALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] I can’t imagine Miami without Venezuelans.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] Immigrants are what make this country great.
MALE SPEAKER:
The Venezuelans who built here, Doral. We need our elected officials, whether they’re Republican, Democrat, they have the power to make sure that this community does not have to live in fear any longer.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] We decided to try every possible option. We still had the asylum case we’d already started. We’d already made a payment that, obviously, we didn’t want to lose. We’re going to take that chance.
Call with immigration lawyer
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Hello, good afternoon.
Sebastián Orlando.
Gabriel Enrrique.
They are my dependents. They are included in my asylum case.
Hold on. Give me a minute, please.
33010.
And at that moment, I was alone with my two children. I was terrified that I would be detained.
Here we have felt a sense of security that we have never felt in any other country.
Do you think I have enough time so I can be protected? Because my parole expires on April 5.
Thanks. Bye.
We just spoke with the law firm. We were filling out the asylum application form. We filled out mine with my children and Eduard’s. The plan is to submit the case this week.
We have to keep knocking on doors to see which one opens for us.
Yineska and sons
Status: Humanitarian parole expiring April 5, 2025
The day before their humanitarian parole is set to expire, Yineska and her sons apply for asylum.
They hope that asylum or TPS will allow them to stay in the U.S. legally.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] He’s in the U.S., but instead of sounding more American, he just …
FEMALE SPEAKER:
[Speaking Spanish] Uh, what’s that called? No. Haven’t you learned any English?
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes. Yes, he knows it.
SEBASTIÁN:
I speak English very good all the time.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes. Yes, he gets by very well.
SEBASTIÁN:
Oh my gosh.
YINESKA:
Oh my gosh. [Laughter]
[Speaking Spanish] We’re praying to God to always protect us, to watch over us, to make us invisible, so that nothing happens to us. And thank God, it has worked.
Sebastián tells me, “Mom, we’re going to the basketball court. The police don’t go there.” I told him, “Look, unfortunately, there’s always going to be someone on their list who they’re looking for.” And that’s how a lot of people have been caught. In a raid, in some situation, in a mix-up.
I prefer that they’re here. Watch movies, watch series. Popcorn? Let’s go buy some. I prefer that they’re here.
It’s better not to go out.
You all have to think about the sacrifice that your dad and I are making.
April 14, 2025
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Today we are going to take fingerprints for TPS.
Oh, this is terrifying. Because of the feeling I’m going to enter the lion’s den. [Laughs]
This isn’t a typical day out. It’s actually a risk right now. Due to the extreme measures they are taking.
But we’ve got to go.
Oh my gosh, it’s late.
Should I ease up?
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes! I look like … Shirley Temple!
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I think you’re ready, Sebastián. Go look at yourself in the mirror.
It’s here.
Yineska, Sebastián and Gabriel complete their TPS processing and are told to wait for updates by mail.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Massive immigration enforcement crackdown has led to hundreds of arrests in Florida.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Immigration attorneys reported seeing ICE vehicles in the parking lot of the building housing the courtrooms.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
The law enforcement officers were wearing masks as they took people into custody who were apparently there for their hearings.
May 22, 2025
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] You’re deep in thought. Why are you so deep in thought?
Yesterday I was on Instagram and Marco Rubio popped up speaking. They were asking him about the TPS and he says that people should apply for asylum.
Oh, yeah? Is he going to guarantee people that they can win their case? No!
They’re looking for any little excuse to say no.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 300. I’m leaving.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Bye. Good luck. Rest assured, everything is going to be fine.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Today I have an appointment with USCIS for the asylum case.
Super, super nervous. You just never know what could happen there.
They decide whether to send it to court to keep fighting the case, or they tell me, “You’re out of chances,” or maybe not.
Thank you very much. Have a great day.
Just heading out now.
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Is everything good?
USCIS Asylum Office
Miami
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Well, the interview is over, but they don’t give you any … no decision, whether it’s a yes or a no.
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Oh my God, where are you? Oh no, get away from there.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] I’m just leaving the interview now.
Well, it went well. I have to go back on the fifth [of June].
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Well, at least they didn’t lock you up.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Yeah, at least that.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Tell me, tell me, spill it all.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Well, like I told you, they asked questions, key dates, and I was like a computer processing.
Why didn’t I apply before a year and a day?
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] And was it in Spanish or English?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Spanish. English. Because the officer also spoke Spanish.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Did she ask if you’d worked illegally?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] And the entries I had in this country. Good thing I had [my passport], I showed it to the officer. “Here it is.”
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Didn’t she ask you about your background?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes, at the end.
These are the changes I made to your [form]. Sign it, read it. Eddy [the translator] put on his glasses. He looked like an old man.
At the end, she asked, “Why are you afraid to go back to your country?”
“Just returning from the United States means persecution, because they hate this country.” That’s what I told her.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I’m terrified they might send him back to Venezuela.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Yineska’s status is zero. She hasn’t even gotten an asylum appointment. And she never received anything about TPS.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Now there is the option to self-deport. That’s not an option, especially for Venezuelans.
How do you start from scratch with a situation like this? We are afraid of what might happen there when we arrive.
June 5, 2025
Eduard
Status: Court date
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] I’m nervous because of everything that’s happening on social media. They’re taking people into custody. Mass deportations. The raids.
That’s why we want to do things right, so they don’t catch us out there on the street.
How is Yineska going to stay alone in this country?
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] These haven’t been easy days at all. Because everything is just so unpredictable.
But we’re not being given a chance to defend ourselves from something we didn’t do.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Denied. They referred it to court.
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Really? When?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] By July 8.
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] July? Immediately.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Exactly.
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Really?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes. Are you getting ready to leave?
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes. I’m already taking a shower.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Oh, well. OK, see you at night. I’m going home.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] I’m really scared that immigration might detain one of them. That they’ll deport me and leave them here.
July 3, 2025
Eduard
Status: Asylum hearing in five days
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Look, ICE is still showing up at Walmarts around the country. It’s not even safe to go buy groceries anymore.
I’m already disappointed.
I believe we need to have plan B locked down. Living this all over again is just too stressful and upsetting. One doesn’t know what to do. And now to start all over, with nothing. Really, I don’t want to experience it all over again.
July 4, 2025
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Only ketchup?
The barbecue option, yes.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
What an incredible night to be together here at beautiful Doral Central Park, celebrating the birthday
of the greatest country in the world.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] With a corn cake.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
In Doral, we are a mosaic of cultures and backgrounds, but what unites us is the shared love for a country that gave us a second chance, a fresh start and a place to call home.
This celebration is a reminder that the American dream is still alive, and that it lives in each of us in our work, our families, our faith.
July 8, 2025
Eduard
Status: Asylum hearing
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] I was thinking about you. I had to dodge all the way to 74th Avenue, man, because Mimi told me ICE was there and everything.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] S—, this thing’s rough.
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] You’ll see, everything will turn out fine for you, too. What time is that court hearing?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] 9:30.
MALE VOICE [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Keep me posted, OK?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Yeah, yeah. I will.
Immigration court
Miami
MALE VOICE:
[Speaking Spanish] What happened?
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Oh, thank God. Get away from there now.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] No, I haven’t left. They pushed my appointment to 1 p.m. because the police haven’t arrived.
YINESKA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] What do you mean, the police?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] [Laughs] Just kidding.
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Are you stupid? That’s not something to joke about. Please come, come, come, come.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Someone showed up, the police came in through another door, and they took him away.
When I sat down, I didn’t say anything. So right away, “Thank you sir, you can go.” And I’m like, no way! I ran out.
The judge postponed a decision on Eduard’s asylum case until 2028.
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] I just got out of the court.
EDUARD’S BROTHER [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] You can get your papers again, right?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes. Work permit, Social Security and everything to be more legal.
EDUARD’S MOTHER [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Hello, God bless you. How did it go?
EDUARD:
[Speaking Spanish] No, I’m already outside on the street. I’m heading home now.
Now we just have to wait for Yineska.
Yineska and sons
Status: Awaiting responses to their asylum and TPS applications
YINESKA:
[Speaking Spanish] Put these cutlets in the fridge, please. Leave me the one on top. I’m going to chop it.
I’m aware that I’m an immigrant. That I have to obey the laws so my stay can be extended. But something changes every day.
The truth is that you’re waiting to see. Now what are they going to say? What is going to happen with our future, exactly? It’s stressful.
OK, pour some water.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what I’m going to do.
SEBASTIÁN:
[Speaking Spanish] If you feel like it’s the end and it’s not a happy ending, then it’s not the end. It’s not the end, Sebastián, calm down.
I want a good future. I want to aim for more.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to revoke TPS pending a final ruling.
As of Nov. 7, 2025, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have lost their legal status and now face deportation.
