Deporting Caregivers

The Trump Administration’s unlawful immigration crackdown is hurting the long-term healthcare industry, as nursing homes and care providers are losing their foreign-born employees and are struggling to hire replacements. According to data provided by LeadingAge, foreign-born workers make up 30% of the nursing home housekeeping and maintenance workforce. That is compared to 19% of the overall workforce, per the Labor Department. More than 41% of home health aides in the U.S. were foreign-born last year, 22% of nursing assistants are foreign-born, and 28% of personal care aides are foreign-born.

These caregivers are crucial for caring for those who are disabled, and the country’s fast-growing elderly population. We are already in short supply. Nursing homes have long faced staff and worker shortages, a situation that worsened and reached crisis levels during the pandemic. Areas with higher immigration labor were able to tackle the difficulties that the long-term care industry faced during this time.

Advocates and policy experts warn that the level of quality care that people receive is under threat. LeadingAge Wisconsin’s Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Services, Robin Wolzenburg, says, “We have facilities with empty wings, and it’s not for the lack of residents – it’s just for lack of staff.”

The New York Times recently reported that the beloved caregiver of an autistic young man in Virginia is facing deportation over a minor crime committed years ago, and his patient is struggling to adapt to life without him there.

Wolzenburg previously coordinated with resettlement agencies to fill healthcare vacancies, placing refugees in jobs such as housekeeping, dietary services, and other ancillary positions that keep facilities running. But not this year. The Trump Administration has suspended refugee programs, and now Wolzenburg is struggling to fill these vacancies.

“When it comes to supporting someone with autism or someone with Alzheimer’s, the relationship with the care worker is so significant,” says Nicole Jorwic, chief program officer at Caring Across Generations, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Additionally, these places offer better quality care, as research published earlier this year has shown. David Grabowski, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, said, “A lot of people say foreign-born workers crowd out jobs or lead to worse quality. That’s not the case here.”

Rachel Blumberg, CEO of Toby and Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences, a senior living community in Boca Raton, Florida, learned that 10 of her employees were soon to be deported after the White House arbitrarily revoked their permission to work in the United States.