Long Island mother-of-two Linda Mancuso has been “praying on a daily basis” that her disabled son’s Haitian caregiver will be able to come back to work.
It was “horrifying,” she says, when Jean, who had a temporary work permit, was laid off from work at the end of July from his position at a nonprofit supporting individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Her son Michael is a 5ft 10in, nonverbal 23-year-old.
“Showering, sleeping, eating, tying his shoes – Michael can’t tie his shoes – I mean, there’s so much hands-on involvement, and Jean did all of that,” she says.
Mancuso was a ball of nerves when she finally agreed to send Michael to residential care, at the age of 19, calling it “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do”.
When he met Jean in the adult home, however, she felt a sense of peace.
“Certain people just have it,” she says of Jean. “He’s literally a lifeline.”
But Michael lost that lifeline weeks ago, when his employer had to lay Jean off along with 18 other Haitians.
Their temporary protected status (TPS) – which allows eligible foreign nationals from unsafe countries to work in the US – had expired.
The Trump administration first announced in June 2025 that it would be removing the TPS for Haitians, and the ensuing legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court.
But America’s top judges ruled in favour of the administration, paving the way for 350,000 Haitians to lose their status at the end of July.
The stripping of that status meant that holders can no longer legally work in the US and are at risk of deportation.
The healthcare industry, with a robust Haitian workforce, has been hit particularly hard – with legions of employers forced to fire TPS holders who work directly with patients.
Trump cancelled TPS amid a wave of measures restricting immigration, a central plank of his successful 2024 election campaign.
Immigration was one of the top concerns for voters in that election and, in Long Island, both counties decisively backed Trump.
More than a dozen countries have had their TPS terminated in Trump’s second term and Haitians make up nearly a third of all TPS recipients affected.
The care industry is feeling the effects.
Haiti numbers among the top five countries from which immigrants in the direct-care workforce come, says Kezia Scales, vice-president of policy and research at the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute.
The industry was already under-staffed and waitlists for many care services – from home health aides to assisted living – were already long.
“We simply do not have enough people in our domestic market, when you exclude immigrants, to fill those jobs,” she tells BBC News.
National advocacy groups are campaigning for policies that would strengthen the long-term workforce – including ones that “would expand legal pathways for international caregivers”.
When asked about the impact of TPS termination, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the BBC that “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that – temporary”.
“The assertion that the only way we can support the healthcare industry is by allowing unvetted illegal aliens to remain in the country is grossly false and lazy,” the spokesperson said.
