August 13, 2026 Washington, DC—The Care for Seniors, Care for America coalition today announced an intensified national campaign to protect the senior care workforce following the official termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals. This broad movement of aging-services providers, labor unions, and business leaders is mobilizing an unprecedented surge of advocacy to prevent a catastrophic disruption in care for America’s older adults and families.
The group is activating older adult residents of senior living communities, CEOs, human resources leaders and healthcare administrators who are sounding the alarm on the loss of their most trusted caregivers. Immigrants comprise one in four direct care workers and more than 30% of nursing home support roles. Haitian nationals play a critical part of the caregiving industry, and represent a significant portion of the noncitizen healthcare workforce nationwide.
“The termination of TPS for Haitian workers will place an unbearable strain on American families as they scramble to shoulder increased caregiving responsibilities. According to an AARP report, 59 million family caregivers provide care equivalent to 23.8 million full-time workers. Removing this critical TPS workforce will force more Americans to bridge this gap while already navigating higher costs and limited options in care homes. Lawmakers must pass the Dream and Promise Act to provide certainty for caregivers and American seniors,” said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Business Immigration Coalition.
“Care workers like me spend our lives caring for America’s children, seniors, and families,” said Suzie, a Haitian care worker in New York. “Haitian workers are a big part of that care, and right now so many are afraid they could lose their jobs or be forced back to a country that is not safe. When we protect care workers, we are also protecting the seniors and families who depend on us every day.”
“We urge Congress to take immediate action to preserve TPS and enact legislation that provides a path to citizenship. SEIU is the largest union representing care and service workers nationwide, many of whom held TPS. This issue is deeply personal. As a union we will make our voices heard and hold accountable those who voted to fund the deportation of our caregivers, co-workers, and family instead of funding our healthcare. We say it loud and proud: We belong. Working people belong. People with TPS belong. Period,” said Rocío Sáenz, Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
A Call to Action: National Mobilization
The coalition’s intensified effort centers on a direct call to action: urging thousands of supporters to participate in coordinated phone banks and call their members of Congress. Advocates are demanding immediate legislative or administrative solutions to maintain legal work authorization for long-term caregivers, ensuring they can continue their life-saving work without the threat of deportation or layoffs.
Empowering the Workforce and Consumers
To support this mobilization, the coalition is launching a series of national coaching webinars and training sessions. These sessions will equip seniors, family advocates, and care employers with the specific tools and messaging needed to effectively engage lawmakers, share personal testimonials, and utilize digital advocacy tools.
Between 2024 and 2034, the direct care workforce will experience the largest growth of any sector in the nation, adding over 772,000 new positions. To keep pace, 9.7 million total direct care roles will need to be filled during that same decade. Terminating TPS for hundreds of thousands of established workers will exacerbate this crisis, leading nursing homes to have to limit admissions or, worse yet, take beds offline. Home health agencies may have to turn down requests for care as well.
“As a mission-driven, not-for-profit senior living provider, losing 12 Haitian team members was deeply painful—not just organizationally, but personally, for the residents, coworkers, and community members who saw them fulfill our promise to care for every person with dignity each and every day. They were caregivers who lived our mission every day, building relationships rooted in respect and compassion with the residents they served. Their absence is felt immediately in the lives of those we exist to serve, and it underscores why our calling, caring for America’s aging population, demands more dedicated hands, not fewer. Foreign-born caregivers have long been essential to fulfilling that calling, and as a sector, we need immigration pathways that reflect this reality and keep mission-aligned team members with the residents who depend on them,” said Amanda Birch, Chief Human Resources Officer at Westminster Communities of Florida.
