Florida, long known as a retirement haven, is facing a labor crisis in long-term care, where many immigrant workers have historically filled key roles aided in recent years by humanitarian relief laws.
Recent immigration policies under the Trump administration, which revoked temporary protections and work permits for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, have left the industry reeling, according to a story in El Pais.
Businesses are struggling to replace these workers, many of whom serve the long-term care sector. Immigrants make up 21% of nurse aides and 30% of cleaning and maintenance staff in nursing homes, according to LeadingAge, the largest association of nonprofit long-term care providers. Moreover, LeadingAge members report that 40% to 75% of their staff are foreign-born workers, many of whom have been working legally in their positions for years.
These workers provide essential services, often at low pay, and many employers worry that without their contributions, quality will suffer.
A large portion of the workers impacted come countries like Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and had benefitted from a program called CHNV, which allowed nationals of these four countries to enter the United States legally. The legal status of at least 500,000 people who arrived in the U.S. through the CHNV program, however, and hundreds of thousands more who entered using other programs, was revoked in April by the Trump Administration. The new White House leadership also canceled Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for another half a million people from various countries. While the TPS granted temporary U.S. residency to nationals from crisis-affected countries, CHNV parole allowed select individuals from some countries to stay temporarily.
Regardless, many of these immigrant workers had obtained certificates after completing a 75-hour course to care for the older adults or disabled, earning around $14 an hour, the article notes. Some became certified nursing assistants (CNAs), earning slightly over $15 an hour with added benefits like health insurance and bonuses.
Advocacy groups for long-term care such as LeadingAge, which has more than 5,400 members in 41 states, fear that new immigration policies driving layoffs are having an even greater impact than the data shared by long-term care providers suggests.
“[Providers] don’t want to speak out because they don’t want to attract attention and are concerned about the well-being of their staff,” Lisa Sanders, spokesperson for LeadingAge, said.
One LeadingAge member in Florida had to lay off 10 people after the CHNV ended and is anticipating laying off more when TPS for Haitians expires in February 2026, Sanders said. Meanwhile, Rachel Blumberg of Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences in Boca Raton, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) with skilled nursing, said that with the TPS ending, the organization risks losing 8% of its 430 employees.
“These are people who are working legally, working hard, paying taxes, contributing to their communities,” Sanders said.
Providers outside of Florida too are facing workforce issues stemming from this shift in immigration policies, Sanders said.
Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, protested the removal of CHNV and protections like TPS in an April 30 letter to Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Many of our members will lose deeply valued, experienced staff at a time when replacement workers are exceedingly difficult to find,” Smith Sloan said in the letter.
Meanwhile, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) has called for improved legal pathways to ensure continued access to immigrant labor as the aging population grows.
