US families, healthcare providers under strain after Trump crackdown on Haitian immigrants
NEW CITY, New York, Aug 19 - Richie Rosen, 43, was born with a rare genetic condition called Williams syndrome.
asserted
Rosen → bear → condition
He longs for human connection but gets anxious in social situations and is easily upset.
asserted
He → long → situations
For four years, a Haitian caregiver named Tassy helped him navigate day-to-day life at a group home for developmentally disabled men in upstate New York – cooking for him, driving him around and making difficult chores more manageable.
But on July 27, Jawonio, the nonprofit that runs the facility, terminated Tassy’s contract after the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and the work authorization that came with it.
asserted
that → name → it
"I miss him a lot," Rosen told Reuters last week, sitting in his room at the home in Rockland County, a leafy suburb north of New York City.
asserted
Rosen → miss → City
“I miss him just saying hi to me all the time."
asserted
him → miss → me
Around 21,000 of the 330,000 Haitians in the United States under TPS worked as caregivers and nursing assistants as of last year, serving around 77,000 patients, according to an analysis of U.S. census data by Philip Connor, a research fellow at Princeton University.
uncertain
21,000 → work → University
Their abrupt removal from the healthcare industry has placed additional strain on a system already struggling to meet the needs of the fast-aging U.S. population.
asserted
removal → place → population
It also came as a shock to families that relied on them.
asserted
that → come → them
Richie's mother, Sharon Rosen, said Tassy was “like family” to her son, who never got the chance to say goodbye to his longtime aide.
asserted
who → say → aide
“My heart is breaking for him and for my son,” she said.
asserted
she → break → son
Reuters was unable to reach Tassy for this story and is using only his first name due to his vulnerable legal status.
asserted
Reuters → reach → status
Jawonio was forced to lay off nearly two dozen Haitians last month, totaling 7% of its staff.
asserted
Jawonio → force → staff
Most of those affected provided round-the-clock care for disabled patients for around $20 per hour, just a few dollars above New York’s minimum wage.
asserted
Most → affect → wage
"These are among the most difficult positions to fill," Jawonio's CEO, Randi Rios-Castro, told Reuters in response to emailed questions.
asserted
CEO → fill → questions
“This has never been just an immigration issue,” she wrote of the decision to end TPS.
asserted
she → write → TPS
‘PATIENT CARE SUFFERS’
The United States granted humanitarian protection to Haitians following a devastating earthquake in 2010.
asserted
States → grant → 2010
The Trump administration cited improving conditions in Haiti as a reason for ending the program, though the country remains among the most unstable in the Western Hemisphere.
asserted
country → cite → Hemisphere
Haiti has not held elections since 2016; its last president was assassinated in 2021.
asserted
president → hold → 2021
Gang violence has convulsed the capital.
asserted
violence → convulse → capital
1.4 million people are displaced from their homes, the U.N. said last year, and about 6 in 10 live in poverty.
asserted
10 → displace → poverty
No longer able to legally work in the United States, former TPS holders can now return to Haiti voluntarily -- or try to stay in the U.S. and risk arrest and deportation.
asserted
holders → work → arrest
New York state had the second-largest number of Haitian TPS holders after Florida, one of the country's most popular retirement destinations.
asserted
state → have → destinations
Weeks before TPS was set to expire, Emmett Reed, CEO of the Florida Health Care Association, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin urging him to consider an exemption for long-term caregivers.
asserted
Reed → set → caregivers
"Florida is home to one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing older adult populations, and demand for long-term care services continues to increase each year," Reed wrote in the letter.
asserted
Reed → grow → letter
The loss of Haitian workers risked “causing a ripple effect that could overwhelm our local hospitals and the entire healthcare system,” he continued.
uncertain
he → cause → hospitals
Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association, moved to the U.S. from Haiti as a child and works at a hospital in Brooklyn.
asserted
Hagans → move → Brooklyn
At an August 5 vigil held outside Maimonides Medical Center to protest staffing shortages, she compared the impact of ending TPS to the workforce deficit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
asserted
she → hold → pandemic
“When healthcare workers live in fear of going to work, patient care suffers,” Hagans told the crowd.
asserted
Hagans → live → crowd
Responding to questions from Reuters, the Department of Homeland Security said it was “grossly false and lazy” to assert the healthcare industry relied on immigrants, adding that “for too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program."
Jawonio has appealed for help to Republican Congressman Mark Lawler, who represents Rockland County in New York's lower Hudson Valley, home to an estimated 11,000 Haitians.
asserted
who → respond → Haitians
Lawler, facing a competitive race in November’s midterm elections, has opposed stripping Haitians of protections despite being a backer of Trump and his hardline immigration agenda.
asserted
Lawler → face → Trump
His office said he is working with Jawonio and other local groups to find alternative legal statuses for Haitian TPS holders.
asserted
he → say → holders
"Losing these experienced workers creates real staffing challenges for providers who were already facing shortages and risks disrupting care for vulnerable residents,” Lawler's spokeswoman Caroline Hunt wrote in an email to Reuters.
asserted
spokeswoman → lose → Reuters
FAMILY FILLS IN
asserted
FILLS → in → ?
At the group home in Rockland County, staffers are picking up extra shifts after the departures of Tassy and Marc, another former Haitian caregiver.
asserted
staffers → pick → Tassy
For the Rosens, the loss feels personal.
asserted
loss → feel → Rosens
Sharon, 77, said she told her son that Tassy might have to leave because of new immigration policies.
uncertain
Tassy → say → policies
But she didn’t expect it to happen overnight.
asserted
it → expect → ?
Now, she and her 81-year-old husband are trying to help fill the gaps, including driving him to his job at a nearby grocery store.
asserted
she → try → store
Rosen, asked to recall the moment he learned his aide was gone, didn’t want to discuss it.
asserted
aide → ask → it
"I hope one day I can see him again," he said.
asserted
he → hope → him
The Aporia
