Goodbye, Immigrant Caregivers

A Call to Action

This post is inspired by this recent CNN article.

I used this short prompt for ChatGPT:

What are the rough percentages of foreign immigrants who work in our senior caregiving institutions and roles?

And I received the following:

Here’s a clear, evidence-based picture of how much foreign-born/immigrant workers contribute to caregiving roles in U.S. senior care (e.g., nursing homes, home health aides, personal care aides, and similar long-term care work):

📊 Approximate Shares of Immigrants in Senior Care Roles

Direct long-term care workforce (overall)
• About 28% of all direct care workers in long-term care are immigrants — nearly one in three. (KFF)

Home Care (in-home senior care)
• Roughly 32–41% of home health aides (who provide hands-on elder care in people’s homes) are foreign-born. (KFF)

Nursing Facilities & Residential Care
• Around 21–28% of workers in nursing homes and residential care settings are immigrants. (KFF)

Other Care Roles (support staff)
• Housekeeping, maintenance, and other facility support jobs in senior care often also have high shares of immigrant workers — in some analyses around 30% or more. (Hurley Elder Care Law)

🧠 How to Interpret These Numbers

· These figures refer to foreign-born workers (immigrants), which include both naturalized citizens and noncitizens. (KFF)

· Although immigrants are roughly ~17–20% of the U.S. overall workforce, they are overrepresented in caregiving compared with many other sectors. (KFF)

· Exact percentages vary by setting: in home care the share is typically higher than in nursing homes. (KFF)

🧩 Big Picture

· Immigrants comprise a significant minority — roughly one quarter to one third — of the senior caregiving workforce in the U.S. and in specific roles like home health aides they can approach or exceed 40%. (KFF)

· Because the U.S. care system is heavily dependent on this labor, changes in immigration policy or labor supply can quickly impact staffing levels and care quality.

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What’s the point?

I think our current administration is making a huge and largely hidden mistake. They are deporting and creating a hostile environment for many immigrants who are the cornerstone of our long-term care facilities.

And when these folks leave or are too frightened to work, there is NO BACKUP PLAN for our seniors’ care. NONE!

I encourage everyone reading this to pass it along to friends, family, and colleagues. Our senior care system is sufficiently broken without this latest threat.

If you doubt the risk, do your own research online and across a wider range of AIs.

Then, do something, if not for yourself, for a senior loved one—

• Talk about it in your local communities.

• Press local news to get engaged.

• Contact your congressmen and senators.

• Contact AARP and PBS.

• Raise your concerns about the risk that our unfettered war on immigrants has largely unconsidered and huge impacts on our seniors.

Be loud, my friends, be loud!

Take care of yourselves,

Bob.

Here’s the survey links aligned with this article’s picture:

https://action.momsrising.org/sign/immigrant_family_caregiver_rule/

https://action.momsrising.org/survey/imm_care/