ORLANDO, Fla. — Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans in the United States could be expiring soon after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced protections for Venezuelans that were extended until October 2026 by the Biden administration would be rolled back.

It reverts those protections to two separate designations — one that expires this April and one in September.

Noem has until Saturday to decide what to do about the group whose protections expire in April and until July 12 for those whose protections expire in September. If she does nothing, the protections automatically extend for another six months.

Thousands of Venezuelans call Central Florida home, and nearly half of the Venezuelan population in the U.S. lives in Florida, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

Their future is now uncertain.

Among them are Rafael Viera and his family, who boarded a plane to the U.S. on Feb. 11, 2022, leaving Venezuela to settle in Orlando.

“We were protected under the tools they had on hand, including TPS and political asylum,” Viera said.

Viera said he was hoping to reapply for TPS next week, but now U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will no longer accept re-registration applications for Venezuelans. 

It means their permission to live and work in the U.S. could expire later this year.

“We’ll have to leave, but I’d like that we don’t get to that point,” Viera said.

Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at UCF, says the general trend within the first days of Trump’s administration has been to move aggressively on immigration.

“He’s making it more difficult for people to get into the country, and for a number of people who are here without authorization, he is seeking to remove them,” said Jewett. “We may see less people coming into the state, and this could have an impact on the Florida economy and the Central Florida economy.”

Viera says he and his family feel calm despite the unexpected decision, but they’ll be waiting to see what happens next.

“We contribute to the U.S. government with our work,” he said.

Viera adds that although he believes President Donald Trump is looking out for his country and doing what he thinks is best, the president should evaluate every case individually.

“There are people here that benefit the U.S. (and) this is a country that has offered us a lot of benefits,” he said. “It’s given us education for my kids, it’s given us work, and most of all, safety.” 

Jewett says in Trump’s first term he tried to cancel TPS for certain countries like Haiti and Sudan, but was stopped by the courts who said that was discriminatory and lacked a basis for doing so.

Spectrum News also spoke with immigration attorney Francisco Symphorien-Saavedra, who is also a Venezuelan native, that says his phones have been ringing constantly since Noem’s announcement.

He says he expects the decision will be challenged in federal court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.