A group of Venezuelan migrants in South Florida, trying to voluntarily leave the United States, claim they are being blocked from returning home because they lack the required travel documents.
The group of nine people, including adults and children, had been sleeping for days at Miami International Airport before a local nonprofit, Hermanos de la Calle, stepped in to help move them into a hotel. Despite registering with a federal government app designed for voluntary departures, the migrants say they are still unable to board a flight to Venezuela.
Their problem centers on a document required by Venezuelan authorities—often referred to as a “safe pass” (salvoconducto in Spanish) or travel authorization—which airlines require before allowing passengers to board. Under current rules, Venezuelan nationals must present a valid passport or an official travel document issued by a Venezuelan consulate in order to fly back to the country.
Obtaining that document has proven nearly impossible for many migrants in the U.S. For years, diplomatic relations between Washington and Caracas have been limited, leaving Venezuelans without access to functioning consulates in the United States.
Yalitza Perez is among those stranded. She says she came to Miami hoping to reunite with her husband, who was deported from Missouri in January, and return to Venezuela with her two young daughters. “I want to go back because I have no family here,” Perez said in Spanish.
Perez, like others in the group, signed up for the federal government’s CBP Home app—a system designed to help migrants arrange voluntary departures. She says she received confirmation but was told she still needed the Venezuelan travel document to leave.
Pedro Indriago, 38, says all of them are facing the same obstacle. “We are required to have a safe pass to board a plane,” he said. Many of the migrants crossed the southern U.S. border and handed their passports to federal authorities upon entry. Without those documents—and without access to a Venezuelan consulate—they now have no clear way to obtain the required authorization. As a result, they say they are stuck waiting for relatives in Venezuela to secure and send the document on their behalf.
Indriago spent about 10 days sleeping at Miami International Airport before being relocated.
Due to their desperation to return home, some migrants have been vulnerable to fraud
The desperation to return home has also made some migrants vulnerable to fraud. Carlos Machado says he paid $900—twice—to someone on social media posing as an attorney who promised to obtain the document. Indriago says he lost $1,200 in a similar scheme. Neither knows how long it will take to resolve their situation.
The nonprofit Hermanos de la Calle, which typically assists homeless families in South Florida, says police alerted them to the group at the airport. “We found them at the airport and brought them to this hotel,” said Ricardo Pinza, who works with the organization. He says there is little they can do to help secure the required travel documents.
The organization has contacted Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar’s office for assistance. According to the group, the congresswoman’s office requested a list of the migrants and plans to forward it to the U.S. State Department in hopes of expediting the process.
For now, the families remain in limbo—with no clear timeline for when they will be able to return home. Perez says she has been told she may receive the document by mid-April. Until then, all they can do is wait.
