In November 2022, Emily, a lawyer from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was on her way to church when she received a video call from her husband. They had not seen each other in two years since he fled the country after refusing to arrest pro-democracy protesters. Emily stayed behind with their two children, aged seven and eleven months, unable to afford the dangerous journey north through the Darién Gap, a treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama. “I couldn’t subject my kids to that trip,” Emily explained.
After her husband left, Emily began facing threats. Armed men searched her home for him, and she was beaten. The family had to move constantly to stay safe. “I was so stressed from being shut in, from hiding,” she said.
Emily’s husband, now in the U.S. for work, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma while in North Carolina. Emily tried for months to find a way to reunite, but without a U.S. embassy in Venezuela, the task seemed impossible. She feared leaving the country would mean losing the chance to return.
In late 2022, the Biden Administration introduced a humanitarian parole program for Venezuelans, allowing them to enter the U.S. legally for up to two years if they passed vetting and found a sponsor. Emily learned about the program through social media. She reached out to a doctor in Washington State who had sponsored dozens of people, but after receiving no response, she turned to a stranger, Sandra McAnany, a 57-year-old widow from Wisconsin. McAnany, who had experience sponsoring refugees, agreed to help.
By September 2023, Emily, her children, and her sister crossed the Venezuelan border into Colombia and boarded a flight to Miami, where they caught a connecting flight to Atlanta. It was 1:30 a.m. when they arrived at the airport, where Emily’s husband was waiting. Their son, now two, had been an infant when they last saw each other. “He had been worried his son wouldn’t recognize him,” Emily said. “Humanitarian parole was salvation—from politics, from repression, from a terrifying situation.”
Emily credits the parole program for their reunification but remains concerned about its temporary nature. While the Biden administration has expanded the program for refugees from several countries, it is uncertain whether it will be renewed. Under a potential Trump administration, parole recipients may face deportation, as Trump has criticized the program.
Trump’s immigration policies, including mass deportations, have raised concerns. His immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, has suggested deporting up to one million people annually, many of whom entered the U.S. under the Biden administration’s parole program. Deportations are expected to target both border arrivals and individuals already living in the U.S. without legal status. “I believe parolees will be lumped in with criminals and other priorities for arrest,” a senior congressional staffer noted.
In the face of uncertainty, some fear for their future. Emily’s family, for instance, is awaiting asylum hearings after applying in 2023, but their status is in limbo. In the meantime, Emily works long hours at a factory, grateful for the job made possible by her parole status. Her husband, undergoing chemotherapy, is now in remission but still burdened with medical debts.
Emily worries about the future under a potential Trump administration but remains determined to make the most of the opportunities she now has. “In Venezuela, I would have been just another statistic,” she said. “Here, you work hard to transform your life.”
The future remains uncertain for thousands of immigrants like Emily, caught in the complexities of U.S. immigration policies and the political forces shaping them.
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