Alfonzo Castillo came to the U.S. in 2019, fleeing the oppressive Venezuelan regime with his wife, daughter and a dream to keep his restaurant alive. He’s done more than just that — graduating from a food truck to two restaurants, one in Orlando and one in Tampa, and adding a son to his family.
But now his stay in the country where he rebuilt his business and life is fraught with uncertainty.
Amid a turbulent series of deportation initiatives from the Trump administration, the Venezuelan community — numbering 98,000 in Central Florida — finds itself at the center of the storm. The administration is ending a special temporary protective status for immigrants from unsettled countries, known as TPS, under which many Venezuelans including Castillo came to the U.S. And it has dispatched alleged members of a notorious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, to an El Salvador prison, based on seemingly scant evidence that some say smears law-abiding immigrants as well. Both efforts are being challenged in court, but that only deepens the uncertainty…