Philadelphia woman from Venezuela concerned about her family's protected status amid Trump crackdown on immigrants
President Trump's crackdown on immigration isn't just making undocumented immigrants nervous. People from other countries who have permission to be in the United States are also worried about being deported.
CBS News Philadelphia spoke to a married mother of two now living in the Northeast after fleeing political persecution in Caracas, Venezuela. She said her younger son was shot for taking part in a student demonstration against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
For safety reasons, her family was given legal permission to live in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. But she worries she could get deported after Mr. Trump ordered federal officials to review the program.
"It's very frustration and very fear and it's the emotions, multiple emotion in my heart," she said.
Her TPS status is valid through summer of 2026, but she doesn't know if she'll be allowed to extend it.
TPS allows foreign nationals to apply for work permits and shields them from deportation but does not offer a pathway to citizenship. Of the 1,095,115 TPS holders across the country, 17,060 live in Pennsylvania, according to a December 2024 report by the Congressional Research Service.
Immigration advocate Rossana Arteaga-Lopenza, the president of the nonprofit Casa de Venezuela Delaware, said many people are concerned.
"It puts the Venezuelan community in a jeopardy situation because we are unable to go back to our country because politically it's falling apart," Arteaga-Lopenza said.
With planes of immigrants being sent back to their countries, the mother and wife from Northeast Philadelphia said the fear of being deported is worse now that the Trump administration is allowing ICE to raid schools, churches and hospitals.
"We're not all criminals," she said.
She said she is creating a family preparedness plan in case of deportation and working with her lawyer to understand her rights.