By Alex Leary and Vera Bergengruen | Photography by Martina Tuaty for WSJ
DORAL, Fla. -- In this Miami suburb, support for President Trump's pressure campaign against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is causing anxiety over the administration's immigration crackdown.
Residents of Doral, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the U.S., are bursting with hope that the administration's unprecedented military buildup in the Caribbean will lead to Maduro's ouster. Thousands of immigrants settled in this South Florida city -- dubbed "Little Venezuela" -- after fleeing hunger, repression and economic collapse under Maduro's rule.
"We don't care how Trump does it," said Liliana Rodriguez Morillo, 58, an entertainer who moved to Florida from Venezuela decades ago. "No mercy. The time for talking is over."
Some of Trump's own allies oppose a military incursion in Venezuela, and lawmakers of both parties have questioned the legality of U.S. strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels that have killed more than 80 people. But Humberto Blanco, a 60-year-old Venezuelan banker, has no such reservations. He even volunteered to join any operation to bring Maduro down. "Give me a chance," Blanco said. "I'll go with them."
Yet despite widespread support for Trump's posture toward Venezuela, many here are grappling with the prospect that the president's immigration policies could force them or their loved ones to return to the country from which they fled.
The Trump administration has moved to end legal protections for more than 600,000 Venezuelans, meaning that many of those who settled in "Doralzuela," as this city is sometimes known, could face deportation.
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has stepped up removals, deporting more than 13,200 Venezuelans back to the country, according to an analysis by ICE Flight Monitor, a group that tracks deportation flights. Flights to Caracas have continued despite Trump administration threats of military strikes and its designation of Venezuela as a narco-terrorist state too dangerous for American travel.
In Doral, where many Venezuelan residents have friends or family who have been deported, the fear of being detained and sent back has seeped into everyday life and hurt the economy. Business traffic is down and the once-thriving housing market has slumped. About 40% of the city's 80,000 residents are Venezuelan or of Venezuelan descent, and many others hail from across the region.
Several Doral residents declined to give their names out of concern that they could be targeted for deportation. On a recent afternoon, only a couple of people were inside a popular Venezuelan restaurant, whose parking lot features a life-size statue of Simón Bolívar.
"It hasn't broken our economy, not yet, but it's definitely had an impact and it will continue to," said Doral city councilwoman Maureen Porras. Many local businesses have lost employees, and the uncertainty has hurt restaurants, hotels and shops, she said.
The Trump administration has said the deportation protections were always meant to be temporary. Trump has accused Maduro of flooding the U.S. with violent criminals.
Residents in Doral said Venezuelan migrants are desperate to escape a collapsed economy, chronic shortages of food and medicine, and rampant insecurity that have led about 8
million people to flee the country since Maduro came to power 12 years ago.
In 2024, Trump won Miami-Dade County, where Doral is located, the first Republican to do so in three decades, on the strength of his backing of Latino voters. He carried more than 60% of the vote in Doral. Some of that support has eroded as he has put in place stringent immigration restrictions, political analysts said, particularly among Venezuelans. Broader concerns about the economy have also hurt Trump's standing with Latinos, according to polls.
"The level of anxiety is at an all-time high, especially for the Venezuelan community," said John De La Vega, an immigration attorney in Miami.
Immigration advocates are especially upset with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former senator from Miami and son of Cuban immigrants, who is a driving force behind Trump's aggressive Venezuela policy. Earlier this year, Rubio supported the end of what is formally known as Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans. As a lawmaker Rubio welcomed TPS and in 2022 pressed the Biden administration for an extension, saying failing to do so would result in a " very real death sentence."
South Florida's congressional delegation, which is eagerly backing Trump's pressure campaign against Maduro, has urged the administration to consider immigration on a case-by-case basis.
Erika Lazo, who came to Doral decades ago from Nicaragua and is a U.S. citizen, said she fears being pulled over and asked for documentation. "Thank God I'm legal," said Lazo, 50, who voted for Trump in 2024 after previously supporting Democrats. She questioned the need for the drug-boat strikes and raised the possibility of innocent people being killed without any evidence of wrongdoing.
Virginia Leonet, 21, moved to Doral nine years ago with her mother, a journalist who was targeted for speaking out about Maduro's government. She said her father was killed when she was 5 during a robbery in Venezuela, and now no family remains there. She doesn't want to see Maduro escape under a deal granting him amnesty. "Make him pay, go to prison," she said.
In his first term, Trump tried and failed to oust Maduro, and his renewed focus on the region has vexed some of his allies, who say the president should stick to his promise of getting the U.S. out of foreign conflicts, not starting new ones. Seventy percent of Americans oppose the U.S. military taking action in Venezuela, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll released this week.
But in Doral, people are gripped by the news of each U.S. boat strike, hopeful the administration will soon take even more aggressive steps.
"I want to see Maduro in the orange jumpsuit," said Miguel Vietri, 60, a construction worker from Venezuela who was having lunch at an arepa stand. "He's killed one of the best countries in the world."
Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com and Vera Bergengruen at vera.bergengruen@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 30, 2025 04:15 ET (09:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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