Warren, 100+ Members of Congress Warn: Trump Ripping Away Temporary Protected Status for Immigrants Will Devastate Health Care Workforce

Warren, 100+ Members of Congress Warn: Trump Ripping Away Temporary Protected Status for Immigrants Will Devastate Health Care Workforce

Sens. Van Hollen, Markey, along with Reps. DeGette, Auchincloss, Kelly, Ross join Warren in leading new letter to Trump administration warning of the dangerous impacts of its immigration policies

"At a time when President Trump and Republicans in Congress are gutting the health care safety net, prompting hospital and nursing home closures and layoffs across the country, the health care system cannot withstand yet another blow."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), along with Representatives Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Ranking Member of the House Health Subcommittee on Energy & Commerce, Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), and Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), led 105 members of Congress in writing to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Labor (DoL) to sound the alarm on the Trump administration's move to cancel Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which threatens the health care workforce and could lead to rising costs and lower quality of care for Americans.

An estimated 570,000 TPS holders are in the workforce and contribute approximately $21 billion annually to the U.S. economy, while paying about $5.2 billion in taxes. Yet, since the start of the second Trump administration, DHS has announced plans to terminate TPS protections for nearly one million people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, and Venezuela.

Immigrants from the countries with TPS terminations are especially likely to work in health care, with one study finding that 15 percent of noncitizen health care workers were from TPS nations. Hospitals have ranked in the top five employment industries for both Honduran and Haitian TPS beneficiaries, and over a fifth of Haitian Americans in the United States work in health care. An estimated 5,000 TPS holders work in nursing homes in Massachusetts alone.

"By terminating TPS for immigrants from several countries, President Trump is destabilizing immigrant families who are here legally, while threatening to remove thousands of home health aides, nursing assistants, and other essential health care workers who provide essential care for our rapidly aging population," wrote the lawmakers.

As a result of the TPS terminations, an elder care complex in Virginia reported it would lose 65 staff members, and a senior living facility in Florida reported 8 percent of its workforce was at risk. The Massachusetts Senior Care Association estimates that 2,000 of its members' workers will be threatened by the administration's TPS and humanitarian parole actions, while a post-acute care provider operating in Massachusetts has 96 workers on TPS whose employment is now in question.

"Removing TPS holders from the health care workforce comes at a time when demand for health care workers is at an all-time high," said the members.

The health care sector is still recovering from pandemic-era vacancies, when nursing and residential facilities lost more than 400,000 employees. Now, the demand for home health aides, personal care aides, and nursing assistants is expected to increase by 35 to 41 percent from 2022 to 2037 - as the number of U.S. adults aged 65 or older increases from 58 million in 2022 to a whopping 83 million by 2050.

"Health care professionals who lose their coworkers on TPS will face higher caseloads and faster burnout. TPS terminations will also sever relationships between patients and caregivers on TPS, many of whom have lived and worked in the United States for more than 20 years," said the lawmakers.

In addition to these TPS terminations, the massive cuts to Medicaid from Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act will combine to create a perfect storm for Americans' health care, potentially forcing states to "scale back services that help older people remain in their homes," worsening staffing needs at nursing homes.

"While the Trump administration claims it wants to "Make America Healthy Again," its TPS terminations will do the opposite - further hollowing out an already depleted health care workforce amidst vast cuts to Medicaid that will force millions of Americans to lose their health insurance," concluded the members.

The lawmakers asked the agencies to respond by October 13, 2025 with an assessment of the impact of these TPS terminations on the health care workforce and Americans' access to health care.

Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) joined in signing the letter.

Representatives Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Wesley Bell (D-Mo.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Donald Beyer (D-Va.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Troy Carter (D-La.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Herbert Conaway (D-N.J.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas), Laura Friedman (D-Calif.), Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Ill.), Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Henry Johnson (D-Ga.), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), George Latimer (D-N.Y.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Bradley Scheider (D-Ill.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Norma Torres (D-Calif.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Nikema Williams (D-Ga.), Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), joined in signing the letter.

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