Trump cracks down on visas as some students face deportation
The visas of international students around the U.S. are being unexpectedly revoked under the Trump administration’s agenda to reduce the number of both legal and undocumented immigrants.
unbranded – Newsworthy
WASHINGTON – A group of House Democrats warned Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in a letter Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s immigration policies could lead to health care worker shortages.
Since coming into office, Trump has deported thousands of migrants to countries such as Colombia, Mexico, and El Salvador. He’s also taken other actions to curb immigration, including canceling the humanitarian parole program launched under the Biden administration that gave over 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans temporary permission to enter the country.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., wrote in a letter they co-authored first shared with USA TODAY that “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.”
A 2024 report from LeadingAge, an organization representing nonprofit aging services providers, found that immigrants make up 31% of the home care workforce, 21% of the nursing assistant workforce, 21% of the residential care aide workforce and 30.3% of the nursing home housekeeping and maintenance workforce.
In addition, the lawmakers note in their letter that the demand for direct care workers has grown. The Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to improve care for seniors and people with disabilities, estimates that there will be 8.9 million total job openings in direct care from 2022 to 2032, according to a 2024 report.
“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, who are predominantly women, for support. This would have broad economic implications,” they added.
The letter has been signed by over 40 House Democrats, including Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas., and Gerald Connolly, D-Va. It was also endorsed by several unions, including the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union.
The letter includes a list of questions for Kennedy and Chavez-DeRemer to answer on the issue no later than April 23.
USA TODAY reached out to the Health and Human Services Department, the White House, and the Department of Labor for comment but did not receive an immediate response.