By Daniel Nardini

Venezuelan refugees, once the darlings of the political right in the United States, are now being seen by extreme right wing and anti-immigrant groups as “illegal migrants” and a “caravan horde.” In other words, when the Venezuelans were in another South American country, in someone else’s backyard, this was fine. But now that Venezuelan refugees are coming to the United States, they are seen by the anti-immigrant groups as “illegals.” The real problem has been as it is right now; the Venezuelan government. It is the socialist government of dictator Nicolas Maduro who has single-handed driven out millions of Venezuelans from their own country. With economic problems becoming an issue in many South American countries as well, the Venezuelan refugees have been taking extreme risks of coming to the United States.

Nothing has changed about the Venezuelan refugee situation. It remains the single worst refugee crisis in the Americas. While the eyes of most Americans may be on the Ukraine War, the situation for Venezuelan refugees has not changed. Now, anti-immigrant groups like the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR) have demonized the Venezuelans. There is a racist element in FAIR’s agenda. They want to cut all immigration to the United States. This is to make sure that the native-born white population “remains the majority.” If there are any “acceptable immigrants” that FAIR believes should be let into the country it should be peoples from European countries. It is truly amazing how racism has truly poisoned the immigration quota well in the United States. Americans should of course have sympathy for the Ukrainians who have been displaced because of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Should we also not have sympathy for the Venezuelans being misruled by a tyrannical government in their country?

But extremist organizations like FAIR have made some inroads into the mainstream news media about the “need to shut the door on illegals.” Fact of the matter is the country of Colombia has taken in far more Venezuelan refugees than the United States is doing now. They do not complain about being swamped by the “Venezuelan hordes.” Obviously FAIR could care less about the Venezuelan refugees being in Colombia—only in the United States. We have to remember that FAIR was founded by the infamous white supremacist and anti-immigrant xenophobe John Tanton in 1979. How fair and objective can this organization be? Right now, America should do what so many countries in South America have been doing; welcoming the Venezuelan refugees.