Deportation Policy Harming US Healthcare, Democrats Say
House members express concern deportations emptying workforce
The Trump administration’s extreme immigration policies and mass deportations are causing potential long-term damage to the US health care system — especially access to long-term services, according to nearly four dozen Democratic lawmakers.
Long-term services are provided by direct care workers, and for years, the United States has struggled with an intractable direct care workforce shortage. Immigrants make up nearly 30 percent of all direct care workers, compared to only 17 percent of the broader U.S. labor force. They are the backbone of the direct care workforce, these Democrats said.
The Trump administration’s extreme immigration policies could seriously damage access to long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities, they added.
Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Debbie Dingell, of Michigan, led 42 House Democrats in sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to express their concerns.
“Efforts by this Administration to deport immigrants and curb immigration will aggravate the current workforce shortage and hurt the millions of Americans who need long-term services and supports,” the lawmakers wrote. “Without the vital help of immigrant direct care workers, millions across the country will receive lower quality of care or lose access to care altogether, while others may have to rely on unpaid family caregivers for support. This would have broad economic implications.”
Leaders of organizations in the healthcare field supported the lawmakers’ effort.
“Threatening and deporting immigrant workers is not only cruel, it’s a terrible idea if we want caring hands to be available when our family members are in their hours of need. The demand for care far exceeds our care workforce, and immigrants are essential to filling that gap. Three in ten home care workers are immigrants and 21 percent of the nursing assistant workforce are immigrants,” said April Verrett, president of Service Employees International Union. “We will all be better off when care workers -- and indeed all workers -- have a path to citizenship.”
The consequences of mass direct care worker shortages could devastate families and further agitate the already unsteady U.S. economy, the Democrats warned. The lawmakers concluded the letter by requesting that Kennedy, and Chavez-DeRemer provide written responses to a thorough list of questions no later than next Wednesday.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
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