At a former Coca-Cola bottling plant in downtown Indianapolis, Venezuelans Juan Paredes Angulo and his mother, Andreina, five years ago delivered on a decades-long dream to open a food stall, sharing regional Venezuelan food with a part of America better used to Tex-Mex and Chinese takeout for international cuisine.

Hearing of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s capture by US forces in an overnight military raid earlier this month came as a complete shock.

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He, his mother and sister came to Indiana in 2015 as political asylees.

“I was 16 [when he left Venezuela] and for me to go to college [there] was a waste of time – many of the future opportunities were gone. We don’t have an economy any more.”

Venezuelan immigrants are by far the fastest-growing Hispanic group in the US as hundreds of thousands flee poverty and repression that has afflicted the country for more than two decades. Outside of east and west coast states and Texas, Indiana is home to one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the country that numbers nearly 8,000 people.

But Madero’s kidnapping and the Trump administration’s brutal deportation project, which the administration claims has seen 2.5 million people leave the US in under a year, has put their time, and that for thousands of other Venezuelans in the midwest, at risk.

Within hours of the 3 January attack in Caracas, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement that, in part, read: “Kristi Noem ended Temporary Protected Status [TPS] for more than 500,000 Venezuelans, and now [following the overthrow of Maduro] they can go home to a country they love.”

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TPS is set to expire for more than half a million Venezuelan immigrants, by far the largest immigrant group reliant on the status to live and work in the US, on 2 October.

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While nearly half of all Venezuelan immigrants live in Florida, people such as Paredes Angulo and his family have played an important role in filling tax coffers in the midwest, while bringing South American culture to a region that lags behind in diversity.

Of Indiana’s 92 counties, 62 experienced natural population decline, according to 2024 data from the US Census Bureau. The same survey found that almost 70% of the state’s population growth was due to immigrants moving to the state.

The midwest region as a whole saw a net international migration increase of 406,737 people – nearly 10 times the natural population growth increase. Immigrants, who are thought to have paid more than $4bn in Indiana tax contributions, play a crucial role in funding critical Medicare and Social Security programs for all Americans.

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But the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants – Venezuelans account for the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the US – has caused significant worry in Indiana.

By mid-September, more than 800 individuals, many held on immigration rather than criminal charges, were detained by ICE at Indianapolis’ Marion county jail, according to local media. Last February, ICE agents arrested a Venezuelan national in Indianapolis with alleged ties to criminal gangs, but declined to identify the person.

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The bulk of Indiana’s Venezuelan community is centered in Noblesville and Carmel, northern suburbs of Indianapolis in Hamilton county, which ranks as the fastest-growing county in the state.

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