The Supreme Court’s June 25, 2026 decision to end judicial protection for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders from Haiti and Syria is the latest setback to ongoing efforts to sustain and grow the sector’s qualified workforce.

Over 18 months, as the Trump administration immigrant-worker actions have directly impacted our sector, the pain of those policies have been felt by members, residents and staff across the U.S.

“To lose an employee who is a housekeeper who’s been with you for 16 years—when you think about hiring a new housekeeper, the likelihood is that the next one you hire is not going to be with you for 16 years,” explained Adam Scott, president and CEO of LeadingAge member Hebrew SeniorLife, who will lose nearly 40 employees as a result of the SCOTUS decision. “And that’s a really hard thing that you worry about as an operator…how do I replace that loyalty?”

The future of some 350,000 Haitians in the U.S.—thousands of whom work in aging services—are now uncertain, with most facing loss of employment authorization in the coming days. Some members, like Hebrew SeniorLife’s Scott, are frustrated and speaking out; others who depend on these TPS holders are deciding, right now, whether to say anything publicly about it at all.

Hesitation to speak out on the part of providers is understandable. Workforce shortages are not a comfortable subject. Talking openly about them can sound like admitting instability to families considering a move-in, to lenders evaluating a loan, to regulators watching for risk. What’s more, immigration, as a topic, is politically charged in a way that Medicaid reimbursement rates or training grants simply are not. The urge to manage the disruption quietly is understandable.

But silence can work against change. When providers don’t describe what workforce disruptions mean for their communities, their staff, their residents, the story gets told without them—by people who have never sat with a resident whose longtime aide just lost the legal right to work, and who don’t know what it actually takes to keep a nursing home staffed at 2 a.m. The choice isn’t between speaking up and staying neutral. It’s between shaping the narrative that includes your truth and watching someone else shape it without you. Speaking up is being heard—and through participation, potentially influencing future decisions.

This moment is also different from other, more open-ended “workforce crisis” conversations. Ending TPS for a group of people on whom residents, families, and providers rely isn’t a vague idea—it’s a dated, documented, legally mandated change that , with Employment Authorization Documents for this population currently set to expire on July 10, 2026. Describing its effects doesn’t mean admitting an organization is fragile, however. It simply requires describing a fact: a worker’s authorization status changed because of a court ruling, and that has consequences for the people in your care. The overnight loss of staff due to a government mandate is a powerful example.

Some members are already showing what this looks like through engagement with the media. In June, when Bloomberg wanted to understand what ending Haitian TPS would mean for elder care, LeadingAge member ArchCare’s Eger Healthcare and Rehabilitation went on the record with LeadingAge New York to describe staff losses and residents separated from longtime caregivers already underway. In Iowa, LeadingAge Iowa’s Mill Pond hosted an employer roundtable with Representative Zach Nunn (R-IA), putting a workforce conversation in front of a sitting member of Congress rather than waiting for one to come looking. In South Florida, our members John Knox Village and Miami Jewish Health joined a press conference describing the economic and caregiving role of workers with pending asylum cases. None of these organizations led with alarm. They led with specifics— real people, real shifts, real consequences.

That’s the model. You don’t need to make the case for comprehensive immigration reform to participate in this conversation. You need to describe what’s true in your building, this week, because of this ruling.  Reporters, congressional offices, and coalition partners are looking for providers willing to put a name and a face to what’s happening — the same way Eger, Mill Pond, John Knox Village, and Miami Jewish Health already have. We saw that last week when CNN, the New York Times, and NPR sought out LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan on what this decision means to the sector.

This kind of advocacy is making a difference. Our work with coalitions and direct outreach to members of Congress helped to pass the discharge petition that led to the House voting to extend TPS for Haitians into 2029. After LeadingAge members contributed to the Care in Crisis: The Healthcare Workforce Consequences of Ending Haitian TPS congressional report, a Senate office with whom we had not worked previously contacted us about their nascent legislation efforts.

We encourage every member to talk about what’s happening in your community because of immigration policy. You don’t have to start from scratch or go it alone. LeadingAge has expanded the workforce policy staff, and working in collaboration with LeadingAge national’s Communications staff, can deliver support. We’ve developed a set of member resources to help you engage with confidence.

• Barriers to Hiring Foreign-Born Workers in Aging Services is a deep dive into the technical elements of immigration policy affecting the sector for those who want to know more.
• The Aging Services Workforce Crisis and Immigration provides the data and policy landscape for members who want a background briefing.
• The Immigration Advocacy Toolkit for Residents is also available to help residents tell their stories as constituents.

We encourage all members to review these resources, and to consider adding your voice to the conversation around the role immigrants play in caring for older Americans. Contact Associate Director for Immigration Advancement Shane Myers at SMyers@leadingage.org to share your experience and get involved.