The end of temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants will not only uproot the lives of Haitian New Yorkers, critics say it will also make it harder for all New Yorkers to get the healthcare they need.
“This choice to end TPS for Haitian immigrants is rooted in racism and hatred, and the effects are far-reaching. This decision doesn’t just affect immigrant families. It also affects patients who depend on our healthcare system,” Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association, said.
Temporary protected status, or TPS, allows immigrants to live and work legally in the United States while their home nation is dealing with a crisis. There are 350,000 Haitian TPS holders in the country — and healthcare and immigration advocates say many of them are working in the healthcare industry, as nurses, home health aides and in other caretaking jobs.
“Healthcare workers should not have to choose between caring for their patients and protecting their own families. Patients should never have to worry that the nurse, the nurse’s aide, the home care health worker, the environmental worker, the dietary worker that they trust will suddenly disappear because of a political decision,” Hagans said.
Hagans, who led a rally outside Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, said she did not have exact numbers, but that many of her members would be affected. The American Immigration Council says there are more than 112,000 Haitian healthcare workers in the country, but it’s unclear how many of them are here on TPS.
TPS was granted to Haitians in 2010 following an earthquake and has repeatedly been renewed as the nation faced further instability and violence. But in a June ruling, the Supreme Court paved the way for President Donald Trump to end the status.
Now, TPS holders — some of whom have been in the U.S. for more than a decade and even had children — are facing uncertainty about their ability to work and to remain here.
“Stripping away their legal status will just tear families apart, devastate our healthcare workforce and this industry, and force people back to a country facing extraordinary instability and violence from gangs that rule Haiti right now,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
Balthazar Fortune, a Service Employees International Union 1199 organizer, said he helped many TPS holders get jobs at Maimonides.
“And when they called me last week, I couldn’t answer the phone. I didn’t have an answer to give them,” he said.
The decision to end TPS has sparked fear of increased ICE enforcement in Haitian communities in the city and across the country. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams urged New Yorkers to be vigilant but nonviolent.
“Get your whistle. We want to make ICE as uncomfortable as possible, and make it as difficult as possible for them to do their job,” he said.
