Venezuela used to be a immigrant country like US until the late 90s now has the biggest refugee crisis in the Americas history. Right now there are about 7 millions of Venezuelans outside their territory and the US is fourth country with more Venezuelans.
Around half of them live in Florida but also Texas, New York City and some of the Rockies states like Utah. Any thoughts? Do you know any Venezuelan?
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The server at a restaurant we frequent is Venezuelan. She followed her sister here and is getting her degree. We’ve chatted about it from time to time, but I don’t want to pry.
I know a family. The dad has a doctorate, the wife a masters. The child is extremely smart, now fully-bilingual. Both parents work hard, obey the law, and would love to be citizens, but have no path under TPS. They’re everything we would want immigrants to be.
I am enjoying the Venezuelan food trucks and pop up tents at events. So A+.
As a native Floridian, I know some second-generation Venezuelans.
It’s a sad situation. From my perspective, there are worse groups of people we could have coming here, and presumably many of them, like the Cuban-Americans, will understand the dangers of excessive socialism and authoritarianism.
I don’t care.
This has been our story as a country for a very long time. Many years into the future it will be a different group of people under bad circumstances that have to make the move.
I’ve seen a surge in Venezuelan restaurants in my area. I’ve only had arepas a few times, but I’ve liked them.
Stop the sanctions. Most of Latin America could be way better off and wouldn’t need to immigrate to the US if the US would stop fucking up their countries
I think it’s just a natural result of a deteriorating situation in Venezuela. Migration of this sort is usually economic. Unfortunately, I have no thoughts on the matter. America has been, and will continue to be, an immigration destination. Same story, different people.
There was a pretty big wave of Venezuelan O&G workers immigrating to the US in the mid 2000’s after PDVSA (the state run oil company) fired just about everyone who they suspected of voting in favor of removing Hugo Chavez in the 2004 referendum. Their loss was our gain.
I feel bad that our government constantly destabilizes any government that doesn’t bow to our whims, and then the people are the ones who suffer.
No opinion really since immigrants have historically always flocked to the US in times of crisis (almost like we’re a country of immigrants). I do know they’re being called “the new Cubans”.
I’m in California and don’t think I’ve ever met a Venezuelan. Most South Americans tend to be Colombian here it seems, but this is the land of Mexicans/Central Americans for the most part.
If they come legally I do not care. More power to them. If they come illegally they are criminals by definition and should be deported. That is true regardless of nation of origin.
Bring em!
Are they coming here to work, contribute to society, and just live their lives?
If they are then welcome, I hope they find a stable job and make the most out of their life. I hope they do well and hold nothing against them. I hope I can chat with them and share some of their culture through things like food or entertainment.
If they aren’t, then they can go back to Venezuela.
I used to work with a lot of Venezuelans at a previous job, in the mid 2000s. They would travel frequently to my location, and I got to know several of them pretty well. When the country really started collapsing a few years later, I would occasionally send them messages and well wishes on facebook. A number of them have since moved to the US, although a lot of them evidently still live in Venezuela and, I guess, are making do.
Big fan. I learned to dance from Venezuelan friends in college. We went dancing a lot on the weekends. Also the first time I ever ate mango was when a friend’s Venezuelan mom gave me some (this was in the late 90s when food shipping logistics weren’t what they are today, and I grew up in a remote mountain town that didn’t have many fresh exotic foods available at the time). Fond memories. Also, one of the smartest engineers I’ve ever worked with is Venezuelan. I learned so much from him.
I’m glad they found a way to a better life for them. I don’t think I’ve ever known a Venezuelan, certainly not a recent immigrant. We’re better when more people from more places come here.
Don’t fault anyone for sacrificing everything to come here and improve their lives. I see and interact with them everyday in the City. But I know the levels that they’re immigrating in aren’t sustainable. It’s a crisis in NY.
I wish our government recalibrated their geo-economic priorities so more production with in our hemisphere. That way, we could bolster their economy giving them less reason to leave, and we wouldn’t be putting capital in the hands of our most dangerous adversary being China.
None of em are coming to Maine XD.
My only contact/experience with this is as a banker working in financial crimes.
Not gonna get into details, I’ll just say there’s been a lot more focus in recent years on money moving between the US and Venezuela.
I haven’t recently noticed where I lived. When I was in high school there were two brothers who immigrated from Venezuela. They were pretty cool.
I went to grad school with a number of Venezuelan students right when all the crap was going down circa 2013 or so (I remember watching the news with them). They were some of the hardest working students in the department and I have nothing but respect for them. Generally very warm and friendly, too.
I’m happy to know they’ve found safety here.
I hope they can find peace here and build a future like anyone else.
The US has accumulated wealth from the destabilization of Latin American countries. Each time its the regular people that suffer the most. And each time they flock to the US, its the same song and dance. They’ll just be used as political pawns in another culture war without ever passing and enforcing legislation that address the underlying issue that is our outdated and faulty immigration system.
I don’t really care. However, I dislike how so many of them have developed extreme xenophobia against other groups, even though they themselves are recent immigrants. The fact that they came here escaping an incompetent leftist government has made them easily brainwashed by Trumpists, who have managed to convince them that Mexicans are lazy and ignorant, while Venezuelans are entitled to a greater destiny like Cubans.
More the merrier. I don’t care where immigrants come from. The whole point of America is to accept immigrants from everywhere in the world.
I feel like there are two ways Americans respond to immigrants. A. “Oh you are from another country, cool.” Then move on with their day. B. “These dang people from place x taking our jobs and causing crime.” Then proceed to order Mexican food.
Personally I think it’s pretty wild that not a single country in all of South America is capable of taking in these economic refugees which says much of the state of that continent. At some point these countries need to develop as culturally they’re an easier pot to melt in for these refugees.
We have our system of Asylum that isn’t perfect but absorbing the entire population of South Americans isn’t a solution, the development however of the South American continent is a more reasonable solution than simply taking in large amounts of their population. That’s where emphasis should be plain and simple.
I think it’s great. Venezuela went to absolute shit and if the hardworking, industrious, and intelligent people of that country want to come here then I am happy to have them.
I went to Venezuela right before Hugo Chavez really consolidated power. Our hosts kept saying that if Chavez won the election Venezuela was doomed and they had this whole litany of horrible things he would do. I thought “oh this is like American politics where your political opponent is the Devil incarnate in every election.”
Nope, Chavez did everything they feared. The consequences they predicted happened one by one. It’s sad, Venezuela could be such a prosperous country.
So I say welcome to the US my continental cousins.
They allowed people selling left-wing ideas to destroy their country for their own enrichment. You always see it in latin America, the guys selling left-wing ideas tend to be either “useful idiots” or power-hungry, greedy schemers. They then loot the country. It also happened to Argentina which went from being the 4th richest country in the world to being a basket case. You saw it in Zimbabwe, you see it in South Africa. A charismatic leader rises promising to stop the greedy rich people and then loots the country and destroys everything. At this point its a known pattern.
Let them come. America should be a sanctuary for all of the people of the world, Ideally at least.
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Based. Easy immigration has always been a foundation of the US
More immigrants are better for the US.
I welcome them. We’ve benefited from highly qualified professionals leaving Venezuela due to that nation’s economic collapse.
I’m always cautious about refugee immigration. It’s one thing if you don’t like your country and want to leave because you think your ideals mesh better in US society. It’s another if you’re forced to leave due to a crisis. I have sympathy for these people, but I also have empathy, and know they won’t always want to integrate into US society. This lack of integration does cause lots of societal issues.
To put it another way let’s say the US was hit by a huge famine, and Russia agrees to take in refugees. I go, because I don’t want to starve, but I’m not going to mesh well in Russia, and would have no intentions of doing so. Instead I’d try to make it more like the US.
Immigrants fleeing socialism usually are great for our country.
I’m glad they’re here.
People who escape socialism or communism are some of the best people. In general, they have perspective on what things could be and are grateful for what they have. This makes them all around decent people to be around. I don’t know any Venezuelans specifically though.