WATCH: Ahead of SCOTUS Arguments, Blunt Rochester, Pressley, Markey, Wasserman Schultz, Advocates Demand Court Defend Temporary Protected Status

Today, Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), as well as Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (Mass-07) and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.-25), alongside a coalition of seniors, care workers, advocates, and allies, demanded the Supreme Court defend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and urged Congress to advance solutions to stabilize the care workforce as a national care crisis unfolds.

The press conference took place the day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case involving the Trump Administration's efforts to end TPS for Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and other nations grappling with layered crises. The presser also follows the House's adoption of a discharge petition led by Congresswoman Pressley to extend TPS for Haiti for three years.

"TPS recipients are integral parts of our community. They are our neighbors, our friends, caretakers, business owners, and so much more," said Senator Blunt Rochester. "I was proud to join Congresswoman Pressley, Senator Markey, and dedicated advocates to keep up the drumbeat here in Congress, because welcoming those who need a safe place to call home is part of who we are as Americans. And no one-even the President-can take that identity away from us."

"TPS holders serve as a backbone for families and our economy-caring for our elders and loved ones through illness, strengthening our communities, and making innumerable contributions daily," said Congresswoman Pressley. "That's why we we're using every tool available to defend Temporary Protected Status and affirm the dignity, humanity, and due process of our immigrant neighbors from Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and other nations in crisis. Our message to the Supreme Court today is simple: do your job, uphold the law, save lives, and protect our communities. I'm grateful to my colleagues and our advocates for their ongoing partnership."

"Every day, TPS holders contribute their hard work and support to our communities, including as caregivers," said Senator Markey. "TPS holders are nurses, nursing assistants, home health aides, childcare workers, and more. They form an invaluable part of the infrastructure of support that holds our communities together. Our care economy does not run on apps or algorithms-it runs on people. I am thankful to Congresswoman Pressley for her partnership in this years-long fight to advocate for the TPS community in Massachusetts and across the country. We must preserve TPS and protect our immigrant neighbors."

"TPS holders earn work permits, pay taxes, and get zero government welfare. They pay into Medicare and Social Security and get nothing in return," said Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. "I was so proud that Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Markey joined me in leading over 180 Democratic colleagues in an amicus brief to urge the Supreme Court to reject Trump's illegal termination of TPS."

Joining the lawmakers at the press conference were Luis Zaldivar of the American Business Immigration Coalition; Athena Jones, SEIU Local 512, Home Care Chapter Chair; Executive Director Jenn Stowe, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Pierre Shostal, Goodwin House Alexandria (GHA); Todd Andrews, Chief Operating Officer, Asbury Communities Inc.; and Rita Siebenaler, Goodwin House Bailey's Crossroads (GHBC),.

"Providers across the country are losing longtime, legally authorized caregivers, breaking trusted relationships and widening staffing gaps that directly threaten older adults' access to needed care. Foreign-born workers have long been essential to the nation's aging services sector, and recent immigration policy changes, such as the potential termination of Haitian temporary protected status, are exacerbating the aging services' sector's well-documented and increasing workforce needs. The harm to families and older adults trying to access the services they need when they need them is a travesty. We urge Congress and the Trump administration to adopt immigration policies that strengthen, rather than destabilize, the caregiving workforce that older adults and families depend on," said Katie Smith Sloan, President and CEO, LeadingAge.

"The mass deportation of our long-term, law-abiding workforce in critical sectors has a devastating impact on the stability of senior care across the country. Nationally, immigrants comprise nearly 28% of the direct care workforce, including as many as 1 in 3 home care workers. In communities like Goodwin Living Alexandria, where immigrants represent 90% of nursing center care partners, removing these essential workers amid a national workforce shortage would severely strain the care our seniors depend on. ABIC Action is ensuring that the administration and Congress understand that removing these productive, responsible members of our society directly jeopardizes the essential services American families rely on every day," said Luis Zaldivar, Project Director, ABIC Action.

In February, Senator Blunt Rochester led all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in a letter demanding for then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to reverse her decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haiti. The full letter can be found here.

Footage from the press conference is available here.