Hospitals and nursing homes across the United States are struggling to replace skilled healthcare workers after the Trump administration stripped Temporary Protected Status from Honduras and a dozen other nations, forcing thousands of medical staff out of their positions, according to data and interviews gathered by the Guardian.
TPS, a program created by Congress in 1990, permits nationals of countries afflicted by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other dangerous conditions to reside and work legally in the United States on renewable 18-month terms. It carries no pathway to permanent residency or citizenship. Since reclaiming the White House in 2025, President Donald Trump has moved to terminate or has already terminated the designation for 13 of the 17 countries currently covered, among them Honduras, Haiti, Venezuela, and Syria. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the rollbacks in a statement: "TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades."
The human cost of those decisions is visible in the story of Janeth, a 50-year-old Honduran nursing assistant who spent 23 years at a San Francisco Bay Area hospital, earning a national nursing award on seven separate occasions. In March, she lost her position because of her immigration status and, unable to keep up with mortgage payments, moved in with her daughter along with her 85-year-old mother. The Guardian is withholding her full name at her request given the sensitivity of her immigration situation. "I just want my job back, I just want my life back. I want to take care of my patients again," she said.
Among the patients Janeth cared for was Dolores Jacoby, who received an acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis in 2012 and was given roughly three months to live. Dolores ultimately survived three years, an outcome her family attributes in large part to Janeth's dedication. When the family first learned of the diagnosis, Janeth told Dolores's son: "If there's anybody who can recover, it's your mother." John Jacoby described himself as "gutted" upon hearing that Janeth had been forced out of her role. "That makes no sense," he said. "They need to take her back for the patients."
The broader workforce impact is substantial. Washington, D.C.-based immigration advocacy group FWD.us estimated that at least 50,000 of the approximately 1.3 million TPS holders in the country were employed in healthcare as of early 2025. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency acknowledged it does not track occupational data for TPS holders. At Ventura Services Florida, which manages nine Miami-area nursing homes, vice-president of clinical services Amina Dubuisson said TPS holders account for between 20% and 30% of the workforce at facilities that each employ 200 to 300 staff. "They do a lot of the jobs that Americans don't want to do," she noted, pointing specifically to nursing assistants who clean and feed patients.
About one in six hospital workers directly involved in patient care is an immigrant, and an estimated 4% of hospital workers are not naturalized citizens, the Guardian reported. Kimberly Pierce Burke, executive director of the Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers, warned that curtailing immigration does nothing to reduce demand for medical services. "Just because we are stopping immigration pathways and banning people from these countries doesn't mean we can ban patients, too. They continue to come to hospitals and nursing homes, except now there is a shortage of people who can attend to their needs," she said.
The legal landscape remains unsettled. Litigation over the TPS terminations is ongoing, with a Supreme Court ruling expected this month on whether the administration may immediately end protections for Haitian nationals.
Informational content only, not legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.