Coalition Calls on Congress and the Supreme Court to Safeguard the Workforce Keeping America’s Seniors Safe
WASHINGTON, DC — Seniors, care workers, faith leaders, CEOs of retirement communities, and lawmakers gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for “Seniors Caring for Their Caregivers,” a press conference and rally organized by Care for Seniors, Care for America. With the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday on the Trump administration’s efforts to end temporary protected status (TPS), the coalition came to deliver a direct message to Congress and the courts: the immigrant workers who sustain America’s care system need to be protected, and time is running out.
Speakers articulated the sweeping consequences for older adults, disabled Americans, and the families who depend on professional caregivers to keep their loved ones safe. Immigrant workers make up roughly 28% of the direct care workforce nationally, 35% of the senior living workforce and nearly one in three of all home care workers. Advocates warned that any loss of work authorization for TPS holders would further strain an industry facing significant labor shortages and impact established relationships between caregivers and the people they serve.
With TPS designation deadlines approaching in the coming months, coalition members called on Congress to advance concrete solutions to stabilize the care workforce before the crisis deepens further.
A recording of the press conference is available here.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
“Terminating TPS is not only bad policy that would have catastrophic consequences for our communities, our seniors, and our economy. In this case, it is also unlawful. As I close, I’ll just share my own story. It’s not a unique one. This is deeply personal. It is not political. In the final weeks of my mother’s life and her CLL cancer battle, it was Haitian nurses. Haitian nurses who prayed over my mother. who sang songs to my mother, who oil her scalp lovingly, and braided her hair. Everyone who calls this country home benefits from TPS and stands to be harmed by this termination. So together, we will continue to defend our TPS holders and their families, to center their humanity and dignity and to fight for what is just.”
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA):
“TPS holders contribute their hard work and support to our communities. Nowhere is that more evident than in the care community. Tens of thousands of TPS holders work in the care sector. They serve as nurses and nursing assistants, home health aides, child care workers, caregivers. They are an invaluable part of the infrastructure of support that holds our communities together. A TPS holder cares for someone’s elderly grandparents, feeds and tends to someone’s child, nurses back to hell someone’s sick of a loved one. And Ayanna has told her own personal story touches all of us. Our society depends on those caregivers, only to do the odd, arduous and irreplaceable tasks of nurturing and attending to others, properly with no recognition. Our care economy does not run on apps. It does not run on algorithms. It runs on TPS holders. That’s our care community.”
Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE):
“I come from the great state of Delaware, where we are home to thousands of TPS holders. They are mothers and fathers, farmers, construction workers, and nurses aides. They pay taxes just like we do. As a matter of fact, contributing $29 billion to our economy each year. They are people and deserve to be treated as such. And so when we say this issue is a moral issue, it’s a legal issue, right? It’s also a money issue. It makes no sense. And so again, many have started businesses, own property, and have given back to their communities, whether through their churches or community organizations. And in other words, allowing TPS protections to lapse would disrupt employers, families, and communities overnight.”
Luis Zaldivar, Project Director, American Business Immigration Coalition Action
“The mass deportation of our long-term, law-abiding workforce in critical sectors has a devastating impact on the stability of senior care across the country. Nationally, immigrants comprise nearly 28% of the direct care workforce, including as many as 1 in 3 home care workers. In communities like Goodwin Living Alexandria, where immigrants represent 90% of nursing center care partners, removing these essential workers amid a national workforce shortage would severely strain the care our seniors depend on. ABIC Action is ensuring that the administration and Congress understand that removing these productive, responsible members of our society directly jeopardizes the essential services American families rely on every day.”
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25):
“TPS holders earn work permits, they pay taxes, they get zero government assistance. They pay into Medicare and Social Security, and they get nothing in return. They’re teachers, care workers, entrepreneurs, job creators, they have US citizens, spouses, and children. And it does no one any good to take people out of the workforce, people who just came here to make a better life for their families, who fled their countries of origin because they were too damn dangerous. That’s what the American dream is. We are the refuge. If you rip these hard-working families from our economy, our costs will go up, shortages will emerge. To detain and deport people who haven’t committed a crime, there’s also a moral cost of throwing decent hard-working people into chaos when they post. Every dollar we spend to rid our law-abiding families with legal status is a dollar not spent to go after real criminals.”
Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington:
“We give you thanks for the collaboration we witnessed today: public servants, business leaders, the community, working together for the common good. We know that the road ahead is uphill, but we remain courageous and resolute to continue to this noble cause, and where justice and fairness are secure. We lift up all our immigrant brothers and sisters, especially TPS supporters. They are men and women of resilience, faith, truth, and compassion. who contribute so much to this nation. Those who care for their elderly, as we have heard, seek those refilling houses, those who sustain the hospitality industry, and carry out essential work for the good of others. May these actions be a sign of our gratitude, offering them protection, human treatment, and the dignity of just wages. Grant us wisdom and perseverance to continue working for a world where no one is forced to flee their homeland, their country, because of war, because of fear, violence, poverty, and despair.”
Athena Jones, Homecare Chapter Chair, SEIU Virginia 512:
“We are in the midst of a crisis and are pushing out the workers. In Virginia, we have about 28,000 home care workers. And in 2032, we are going to need an additional 124,000 home care workers to meet the demand of our aging population. Because you cannot move and move caregivers and expect the system to survive. You cannot provide dignity to seniors by dismantling the system and workforce that provides the care. This is a breaking point. We need real solutions, solutions that recognize humanity and the labor of the workforce. This means pathways to citizenship. This means protection, not persecution. Because this is bigger than any policy. This is about who we choose to value. And today, I stand here with our seniors. I stand here with our caregivers. I stand here with all great immigrants that have sacrificed to be here to make a better life for themselves. History continues to prove that if you remove people who care for this country, you are not protecting it, you are dismantling it.”
Jenn Stowe, Executive Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance:
“If TPS is not withheld, if it is not protected, families will face longer wait lists without workers to do this work. We know that providers will face deeper staffing shortages. We also know that costs will rise. And we know that the loss of TPS exacerbates a situation where families are already stretched thin, even if you’re doing everything right. We know that working families are already forced to leave jobs or cut their hours to fill the care gaps themselves. Without care workers to provide refuge for families, unpaid family caregivers will be further burdened. We cannot talk about affordability in this country without making care harder to find and more expensive to get. We have to support seniors and we cannot destabilize the workforce that allows seniors to live with dignity. And so I call on Congress and the Supreme Court to protect TPS.”
Pierre Shostal, Resident, Goodwin House Alexandria (GHA):
“My wife, Hilary, and I have lived at Goodwin House for the past 15 years. And in that time, we have witnessed the indispensable roles that our staff members, of whom more than 35% are immigrants, play to support us in this last phase of our lives. In our nursing centers, 90% of the care partners are immigrants. Indeed, without our immigrant team members, I believe there is no way that Goodwin House could provide the essential services needed by them.”
Todd Andrews, Chief Operating Officer, Asbury Communities Inc.:
“By 2030, more than 70 million Americans will be over 65. The equation is simple. We need more caregivers. We need more to support the ones we have already. Let me be clear. This is not about job displacement, as you’ve heard. It’s about supply and demand. The jobs are here. We have positions open today. We would hire immediately. But many Americans are not entering these roles at a scale we need. Others are. And many come from cultures where caring for older adults is a shared responsibility. They bring attentiveness, skill, and commitment. They are prepared for this work, and they do it exceptionally well. Because great care depends on consistency, desire, and willingness to give oneself to one another. A caregiver who sees the same resident every day notices patterns, how they move, how they eat, how they engage. And one day, something changes, just slightly, and because they’re good at their job, they catch it. That moment can prevent a fall, avoid hospitalization, or stop something small from becoming worse. That only happens through trust and love for the responsibility they have. Across this country, many people are promoting consistency for immigrants. It’s not incidental, it’s essential, because when the workforce is disrupted, the impact is immediate. Residents can feel it. Families can feel it. Our care teams need it. So if we know demand is growing, and we know this workforce is essential, we know disruption has real consequences. We need policies that support stability so caregivers continue to work legally, reliably, and without interruption.”
Rita Siebenaler, Resident, Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads (GHBC):
“Do not deny us these valuable care costs. When you’re young, you rely on your health and your fitness, but as you age, in spite of your good habits, your body fails. We here together are examples of that to some degree. And yet we made the effort to come because of the critical importance of protecting our immigrant caretakers and TPS holders. Whether living in our own homes or living in a senior community, we rely on help. Some assistance, of course, comes from families. But often that assistance comes from the caretakers who come from other countries, who work as companions, as nursing aids, as occupational therapists, as dietary aids, as drivers to medical appointments, et cetera, et cetera. I am very fortunate to live in a wonderful senior facility.”