The state’s largest nursing home association has asked the Department of Homeland Security to consider allowing Haitians with temporary protected status (TPS) to continue to work in long-term care and pursue “available lawful immigration pathways.”
Approximately 350,000 Haitian nationals nationwide hold TPS, of whom half are estimated to live in Florida.
“If roughly one in five Haitian TPS holders works in healthcare occupations, as national workforce analyses indicate, as many as 35,000 healthcare workers in Florida could be affected by recent policy changes,” a July 7 letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin from Florida Health Care Association CEO J. Emmett Reed notes.
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“While a portion of those individuals work in skilled nursing centers and other long term care settings, the loss of even a small percentage of these experienced caregivers would be detrimental to residents’ continuity of care as well as providers who are already struggling to fill essential positions.”
The FHCA is the state’s largest nursing home organization representing more than 650 facilities.
The Florida Hospital Association, an industry group representing more than 200 state hospitals, has yet to intervene. Neither has Jackson Health System, which employs 50 Haitians with TPS, according to a spokesperson for the Miami hospital.
Congress created temporary protected status in 1990. Since then, a country receives a TPS designation after the Homeland Security secretary consults with the State Department to determine whether it meets certain qualifying conditions. A TPS designation applies if it’s too dangerous to return to the country based on violence, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. Protections can last from six to 18 months unless renewed.
TPS designation for Haiti began in 2010 following an earthquake that killed more than 500,000 people.
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Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem determined that Haiti no longer met the conditions for its TPS designation, but a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order staying that decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling subsequently declare that Haitian and Syrian immigrants are not entitled to orders postponing an end to their TPS while litigation is pending. The ruling has the effect of stripping their deportation protections and work permits.
And that could be bad news for Florida nursing home providers already are struggling to maintain staff and the residents who live in the facilities, Reed wrote.
“Our request is driven by one priority: protecting access to quality care for Florida’s seniors and individuals with disabilities. Decisions that unintentionally diminish the long-term care workforce have consequences that extend far beyond employers — they directly affect our residents who depend on skilled, compassionate caregivers every day,” Reed’s letter reads.
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Following the ruling, the TPS designations were set to expire July 10. But the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on its website Friday that it was extending TPS for Haitians until July 24.
Meanwhile, a group of faith leaders has called on Florida residents to make TPS an issue in the coming elections.
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