Photo courtesy netmaa.org

MIAMI – It’s rare for school districts to get involved in international affairs with the White House, but the Miami-Dade County School Board has decided to go to bat for Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants who are facing deportation.

On Wednesday, the board narrowly approved a measure urging the President Donald Trump administration and Congress to restore immigrants’ Temporary Protection Status (TPS), which was revoked last month.

Roughly 500,000 Haitians and 350,000 Venezuelans nationwide could be deported in August 2025 unless the Trump administration reserves its decision.

Rescinding TPS, which allows immigrants to work and live in the U.S. because their homelands are not safe or reeling from a natural disaster, is part of Trump’s illegal immigration deportation operation.

School board member Danny Espino sponsored the resolution as his district is home to one of the largest Venezuelan American populations in Florida.

Board member Steve Gallon, who co-sponsored the measure along with his colleagues Luisa Santos and Joseph Geller, said that in 2017 he introduced a similar item asking Trump to extend TPS for Haitians.

It was approved unanimously.

Mary Blanco was among the four board members who voted Espino’s measure down.

She said she hoped the resolution would include increasing support for students dealing with anxiety and depression over deportation.