'He was a lifeline' – Families at a loss after Haitian caregivers let go in US

BySheila Flynn Senior US Reporter.

Key points

• But America's top judges ruled in favour of the administration, paving the way for 350, 000 Haitians to lose their status at the end of July.
• Jewish Community Services has been writing to elected authorities to advocate for proposed Senate Bill 4814.
• When his employer had to lay Jean off along with 18 other Haitians, but Michael lost that lifeline weeks ago.
• Long Island mother-of-two Linda Mancuso has been "praying on a daily basis" that her disabled son's Haitian caregiver will be able to come back to work.
• Her son Michael is a 5ft 10in, nonverbal 23-year-old.

It was "horrifying, " she notes, when Jean. This person had a temporary work permit, was laid off from work at the end of July from his position at a nonprofit supporting individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Her son Michael is a 5ft 10in, nonverbal 23-year-old.

"Showering, sleeping, eating, tying his shoes – Michael can't tie his shoes – I mean, there's so much hands-on involvement, and Jean did all of that, " she notes.

Mancuso was a ball of nerves when she finally agreed to send Michael to residential care, at the age of 19, calling it "the hardest thing I've ever had to do".

When he met Jean in the adult home, nevertheless, she felt a sense of peace.

"Certain people just have it, " she notes of Jean. "He's literally a lifeline."

Their temporary protected status (TPS) – which allows eligible foreign nationals from unsafe countries to work in the US – had expired.

In practice, the Trump administration first confirmed in June 2025 that it would be removing the TPS for Haitians, and the ensuing legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Notably, the stripping of that status meant that holders can no longer legally work in the US and are at risk of deportation.

Notably, the healthcare industry, with a robust Haitian workforce, has been hit particularly hard – with legions of employers forced to fire TPS holders who work directly with patients.

Trump cancelled TPS against the backdrop of a wave of measures restricting immigration, a central plank of his successful 2024 election campaign.

Immigration was one of the top reservations for voters in that election and, in Long Island, both counties decisively backed Trump.

More than a dozen countries have had their TPS terminated in Trump's second term and Haitians create up almost a third of all TPS recipients affected. The care industry is feeling the effects.

Haiti numbers among the top five countries from which immigrants in the direct-care workforce come, notes Kezia Scales, vice-president of policy and research at the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute.

In practice, the industry was already under-staffed and waitlists for plenty of care services – from home health aides to assisted living – were already long.

"We simply do not have enough people in our domestic market, when you exclude immigrants, to fill those jobs, " she tells BBC News.

National advocacy groups are campaigning for policies that would strengthen the long-term workforce – including ones that "would expand legal pathways for international caregivers".

When asked regarding the impact of TPS termination, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security informed the BBC that "Temporary Protected Status is exactly that – temporary".

"The assertion that the only way we can support the healthcare industry is by allowing unvetted illegal aliens to remain in the country is grossly false and lazy, " the spokesperson remarked.

At AHRC Nassau, which employed Jean, CEO Stanfort Perry sounds exasperated and exhausted. The organisation let go of 19 Haitian staff this year and 22 last year, amidst other immigration crackdowns, he notes.

"It takes us months to recruit one individual to work in this field, train them and prepare them to provide compassionate, caring support to a person with an intellectual and developmental disability, " he notes.

"I'm competing with fast-food restaurants, grocery stores and retail for staff, because they pay more than what we are able to pay, " he adds.

It's an matter nationwide. At Jewish Community Services of South Florida. It lost 18 Haitian TPS holders, the remaining aides are additionally working overtime.

"That is a huge financial strain on a nonprofit like us, " notes Sarah Katzenstein, the organisation's director of strategic communications and marketing.

As plenty of of them are Holocaust survivors, states Katzenstein, the loss of TPS caregivers has been especially damaging to seniors served by the Jewish organisation.

"They had relationships with these home care aides for years – some of them for decades, " she notes, adding that Holocaust survivors especially can have difficulty trusting strangers.

"It's a very intimate relationship, so to these clients, the loss of having their Haiti TPS-holding caregivers truly is devastating."

Jewish Community Services has been writing to elected authorities to advocate for proposed Senate Bill 4814. It would match a bipartisan bill already passed in the House to extend TPS for Haitians. The effort has at present stalled in the Senate, blocked by Republican opposition.

Hundreds of Haitians have been deported since the Supreme Court ruling, despite widespread gang violence in the country. White House czar Tom Homan defended the deportations in a recent CNN interview.

"The judges created a decision they must go home. And they need to go home. We're just enforcing the law. And we're doing it in a way that the American individuals voted for."

According to polling published last month by AP-NORC, external, backing for Trump's overall immigration policy has fallen 10% since the start of his second term but remains relatively solid compared with other matters like the economy. On deportations, regarding half of US adults surveyed stated Trump had gone too far. It is regarding the same number as the start of the year.

Notably, a Pew Research survey in June 2025, external, before the TPS provision was withdrawn from Haitians, suggested 39% of Americans backed the ending of TPS but 59% disapproved.

Back on Long Island, Mancuso is grieving the loss of a carer who had actually managed to connect with her high-needs son.

As a parent, you worry, That's one of the things that. Does this kid know that there are other individuals in the world, other than me, that love him?

"And I think he sensed that from Jean – that it's not just a job."

Her son might not be able to say it, but she knows he misses Jean and doesn't understand why he's no longer there. For Mancuso, her already-high anxiety regarding her son's well-being is skyrocketing.

"With Jean, I had not a care in the world, " she notes.

For now, ' He was a lifeline' – Families at a loss after Haitian caregivers remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.