Miami turns his back on Marco Rubio, his prodigal son in Washington | Immigration in the United States

Miami Venezuelans and Cubans have reasons to believe Marco Rubio, their prodigal son in Washington, has turned their backs. Since he was appointed Secretary of State for the second government of Donald Trump, Rubio has been abandoning some of the causes that had previously won popularity between both diasporas, such as support for migratory reliefs that allowed them to live and work in the country, and the promotion of “hard hand” policies against the regimes of Venezuela and Cuba. Now, at the same time that the Miamense politician consolidates his power as a Trump emissary in the world, at home, and according to the Caribbean saying, Marco Rubio has the burning ranch.

Born in Miami in 1971, from a family of exiles who fled from the Cuban revolution, Rubio was the first member of the Trump Cabinet in being confirmed by the Senate and, in addition, with the favorable vote of both games. Until then, Rubio was recognized as one of the greatest defenders of the Temporary Status (TPS) programs that have protected some 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants in the United States of deportation, and as a promoter of sanctions against Chavism and Castroism that Venezuela and Cuba govern, both during their management as a republican senator and in his brief campaign for the presidential candidacy in 2016.

In his role as Secretary of State, Rubio now defends the elimination of TPS for Venezuelans and cuts to international aid in Latin American countries that suffer under dictatorial regimes. Neither his colleagues – local republican politicians have shown their own community in contrast.

During an appearance before the Senate on Tuesday, the Democrat Chris Van Hollen, who voted in favor of his confirmation as Secretary of State, reproached him for his posture changes. “We did not always agree, but I think we shared some common values: the conviction of defending democracy and human rights abroad and honoring the Constitution at home. That’s why I voted to confirm you. I thought you would defend those principles. You have not done it. You have done the opposite,” said the senator during the televised audience. “Her grandmother must be stirring in her grave (…) She did not escape from a cruel regime so that her grandson could foster one,” said viewer Kelly Grimes in CBS’s post on Instagram on the intervention.

Rubio tried to navigate criticism with an impossible message for Venezuelan migrants: “People who have received the TPS will request the asylum process. And I think many of them, if not most, will have very credible asylum requests,” he said despite the fact that at this time the cases of asylum seekers who have been deported and the approvals are low are proliferating.

The newspaper Miami Herald And the public radio of South Florida also dedicated himself on Thursday to publishers to the first Latin Secretary of State that the country has had. “Rubio used Venezuelans in his hometown to obtain political benefits. Now, he has betrayed them,” says the head of the newspaper, who asks Rubio to use his high position in the Trump administration to help the thousands of Venezuelan beneficiaries of the TPS who now run deportation risk. “Venezuelans and other groups of migrants see that leaders such as Marco Rubio no longer support them, because today, increasing deportations matters more than strengthening democracy,” the editor wrote for the Americas of the WLRN station, Tim Padgett.

The main highways in Miami have begun to be filled with advertising fences with messages against Rubio and the Republican senators who have supported Trump’s migratory policies in Congress, to the detriment of migrant communities from countries such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. “The little framework sold to all Venezuelans. He told Trump to end the TPS. He is a traitor of all those who flee from dictatorships,” says one of these Billboardssponsored by an organization that calls itself Keep Them Honest, referring to the nickname that Donald Trump himself coined against Rubio when they both competed for the republican candidacy for the 2016 presidentials.

At that time, the Miamense also had another opinion about Donald Trump and about the threat that, in his opinion, represented for American democracy and for the values ​​of the Republican party. “The party of (Abraham) Lincoln and (Ronald) Reagan and the presidency of the United States will never be occupied by a scammer,” said the blond then. Then came reconciliation and the rest is history.