Florida Senate - 2019                            (NP)    SR 1856
       
       
        
       By Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       37-01926A-19                                          20191856__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing April 24, 2019, as “Venezuela
    3         Day” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, United Nations’ research shows that, since 2014,
    6  an estimated 3 million Venezuelan people, which is approximately
    7  10 percent of the country’s population, have fled Venezuela, and
    8  a 2018 study by the University of Miami found that more than
    9  200,000 Venezuelans have made Florida their home, and
   10         WHEREAS, the number of Venezuelan students in Miami-Dade
   11  County public schools has soared in recent years, almost
   12  doubling to 9,873 from August 2015 to August 2017, and, as of
   13  the latter date, Ronald W. Reagan/Doral Senior High School had
   14  950 Venezuelan students out of a total student body of
   15  approximately 2,500, and
   16         WHEREAS, a 2013 Pew Research Center survey showed that more
   17  than half of Venezuelans in the United States who were 25 years
   18  of age or older held at least a bachelor’s degree, and
   19         WHEREAS, Central Florida is now home to 140,000 Venezuelan
   20  residents, approximately 38,000 of whom are United States
   21  citizens, a number that has grown over the last year as the
   22  South American nation has spiraled into political and economic
   23  upheaval, and
   24         WHEREAS, according to the Pew Research Center, Venezuelans
   25  accounted for 10,221 asylum applications filed between October
   26  2015 and June 2016, which was up from 3,810 filed during the
   27  same period the year before, NOW, THEREFORE,
   28  
   29  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   30  
   31         That April 24, 2019, is recognized as “Venezuela Day” in
   32  Florida.