Florida hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies are grappling with staffing shortages after tens of thousands of Haitians lost their legal right to work in the United States in July.
The shift follows a June 25 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court clearing the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians living in the country.
A U.S. District Court of Appeals ruling filled July 22 had pushed the work authorization expiration to July 27, but many workers say they already had been either laid off or turned away from work.
The stakes are steep in Palm Beach County and across South Florida.
The county is home to more than 68,000 residents of Haitian descent, the third-largest such population in
the state behind Broward and Miami-Dade counties. An estimated 36,350 Haitians across Florida work on the front lines of health care, filling roles as certified nursing assistants, home health aides and facility staff workers, according to the Florida Health Care Association.
In Palm Beach County, which has one of Florida's densest populations of aging seniors, losing that workforce has left nursing homes understaffed, homebound patients without daily assistance and hospitals overburdened.
Jennifer Jones, a Haitian activist and Delray Beach resident, said the end of TPS had forced hundreds of Haitians health care professionals in South Florida out of their jobs, leaving patients without caregivers and many workers uncertain of how their will provide for their families.
"Overnight, these patients lost their care partners, the people that were supporting them," said Jones. "The ripple effect is crazy. The impact is felt in the community as a whole."
What is TPS and why is it so important to Florida?
Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian designation given to people from specific countries that are suffering from armed conflict, a natural disaster or other "extraordinary and temporary" conditions that make returning home unsafe.
Former President Barack Obama extended it to thousands of Haitians in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. It allows people covered by it to live and work in the United States, but they are not considered permanent residents, nor do they have a pathway either to permanent residency or citizenship.
About 350,000 Haitians are in the United States under TPS, and half of them live in Florida.
Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has revoked TPS protections for 13 countries including Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The move has left roughly 1.3 million people undocumented and at risk of being detained and deported.
Court challenges are underway, but on June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration had the authority to end the TPS status for nationals from Syria and Haiti.
The White House released a statement calling the ruling "a major victory" for putting "Americans first."
National labor unions says however, the end of TPS for Haitians has triggered immediate and severe staffing shortages across in health care, hospitality, education, transportation and agriculture, as employers struggle to replace experienced workers.
Haitian TPS holders have become an essential support for Florida’s health care system, according to a July 7 letter by Emmet Reed, CEO of the state’s nursing home lobby, the Florida Health Care Association, to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
"Replacing these workers is neither immediate nor easy, particularly in a labor market where thousands of long-term care positions remain unfilled,” Reed wrote, warning that not having this labor force will strain local hospitals and the health care system.
Carole Hirsch, owner of Prepare to Care-Emergency Companions in West Palm Beach, predicts agencies and nursing homes which oversee care for those who need it will be forced to employ lesser qualified people in places that had been staffed by people with higher levels of training.
“They are caught in a trap,” Hirsch said. “It’s expensive to hire qualified caregivers. It’s already harder than ever, and the costs of care are so much. Good aides are $30 to $45, compared to when I started (20 years ago). It was $18 to $20.”
What are the jobs Haitian TPS holders do in Florida?
Besides hands-on care, Haitian TPS workers held jobs in as teachers, cooks, hotel staff workers and retail center employees. Others built professional careers and owned businesses, making them an integral part of Palm Beach County's economy and workforce.
"There is an immigrant population doing the jobs that Americans don’t want,” said Pam Wiener, president of the Palm Beach County Partnership for Aging and director of guardianship and care management at the Alpert Jewish Family Service in West Palm Beach.
Jones said the loss of Temporary Protected Status will have far-reaching consequences in the county, where hundreds of workers lost their jobs and won't have the means to pay their rent and car loans and will reduce spending in local businesses.
Haitians who lost TPS have already been either laid off or turned away from their jobs in hospitals, schools and retailers such as Publix, Walmart and Home Depot, Jones said. And they are now living with fear in the shadows.
"They are mothers. They are fathers. They are not breaking the law. They care for your children and your parents. They make sure that you have a good experience in hotels and restaurants."
"Our community wonders, 'What did I do to deserve this?' " Jones said.
The loss in TPS health care workers has hit community care providers like Jewish Community Services of South Florida in the bank account. Existing workers who are providing the care that keeps clients out of the hospital will have to be paid overtime to fill in the gaps, the organization’s CEO Singer said.
"It’s extremely difficult to hire (health care workers) right now,” Singer said.
But the real cost of this upheaval can’t be measured, Singer said.
“Our home care aides, many take care of individuals with memory care issues and needs, and the transition from one caregiver to another is all the more traumatic when the memory is not intact,” Singer said.
“Those bonds that are formed are extremely precious, extremely impactful, and allow for our clients … to have a better quality of life, longevity, and also to avoid the cost on the taxpayer of urgent care visits, hospitalizations that result in large Medicare and Medicaid bills, allowing folks to age with dignity and respect in their homes, and be able to have social, emotional, and health interactions — the key to wellness.”
Community Jewish Services of South Florida has nearly 400 home care clients ranging in age from 80 all the way up to one who is 110. The home care aides are taking them to doctor’s appointments, bathing them and overseeing their food and medication.
“The majority of our clients who receive these services are Holocaust survivors who have endured the most horrific trauma in life and loss and torture through the experience of the Holocaust and World War II,” Singer said.
“They are survivors of camps and loss of loved ones, and now to have their relationship with their trusted, long-term caregiver severed and to have to start a new relationship because … of this ruling and the potential actions that follow are devastating to individuals that have already suffered enough and have lost ones that care for them and that they care for. … It's a re-traumatization of a population that doesn't need that.”
Emmy Bailey is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. Valentina Palm covers immigration and Palm Beach County's western communities for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Haitian TPS loss threatens Palm Beach County's elder care workforce
