By Emerald Morrow | WTSP CBS 10 | July 28, 2026

For the first time in more than 16 years, hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the United States are without Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a status attorneys and advocacy groups say could wreak havoc on Florida’s health care industry.

“It's going to be really difficult to find people to do some of these jobs because many of these jobs are not the first priority for a lot of people looking for work, and so the employers are going to have to…dig deep and figure out a way to find more people to get into the workforce,” said immigration attorney John Dubrule.

Currently, Florida is estimated to have the largest Haitian population in the country. The United States first granted TPS to Haitians in 2010 following the massive, deadly earthquake that further crumbled the country’s infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) extended TPS multiple times as the country dealt with fallout from the earthquake and what the United Nations has called a humanitarian crisis. 

At least two health care advocacy groups have made public statements about the need to extend TPS and warned of consequences if the status is revoked. A July letter from the Florida Health Care Association to DHS said the U.S. Supreme Court decision affecting TPS and the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services’ implementation guidelines “have the potential to destabilize an already fragile long-term care workforce and jeopardize access to care for countless nursing home and assisted living residents in Florida — and across the country.”

Citing Florida’s shortage of long-term caregivers, the letter, the group asked DHS to consider an exemption for long-term caregivers so they could “pursue available lawful immigration pathways without abrupt interruption of employment.” “Many providers rely on employees from Haiti and other countries who have worked legally in our facilities for years, providing compassionate, high-quality care and building trusted relationships with residents and their families,” Florida Health Care Association CEO J. Emmett Reed wrote.

The Florida Health Care Association’s message echoed concerns expressed in a January letter the Home Care Association of Florida wrote to Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody.

“This action poses an immediate and severe threat to Florida’s already-fragile home health care workforce and, by extension, to the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of seniors, people with disabilities, and medically complex individuals who depend on care at home,” HCAF Executive Director Denise Bellville wrote.

HCAF says in the letter more than 113,000 Haitian TPS holders are currently working in Florida, according to estimates, with many working in the health care industry. "This is going to be a big problem for employers," said Dubrule. "It's not just the health care industry. Here at our firm, we have many, many Haitian clients, and one of my clients, for example, is an engineer. And so, he's a high-skilled worker and currently working on TPS, so he's going to lose his job and that's going to have an impact in his employer's situation as well. So, this is gonna be a big, big problem."

DHS says it has reviewed conditions in the country and Haiti is no longer eligible for TPS. According to the National Immigration Forum, those whose status has expired will revert to their previous immigration status and potentially face removal proceedings.