A point that IRI has been trying to drive home since the 2024 elections is that immigrants are deeply embedded in our communities and economy and if acts of mass deportation are carried out, specific industries across the U.S. will see particularly stark impacts, leading to impacts on goods and services, job loss, difficulties hiring new employees and business closures.
The industries we predicted might experience the most difficulties due to mass deportation are the construction industry, the domestic care economy (this includes home health and personal care aides, maids and housekeepers, and childcare workers), healthcare, farming and the restaurant industry.
Last week, a New York Times article drew attention to the fact that the elder care industry is experiencing labor shortages due to the current deportation agenda. Immigrant workers at nursing homes and other facilities are being detained. Elderly individuals who prefer to stay in their homes are also being impacted as many immigrants who are undocumented or have provisional status work in this informal economy as home health aides.
“Many residents expressed disbelief and outrage,” the article said, “at the possibility that their caregivers, immigrants who have lived in the United States for the better part of their lives, could soon be forced to leave.”
Labor shortages are not the only negative impact: long-time relationships that have been built over many years between caregivers and the individuals they are helping to care for are being severed.
Among the immigrants residing in the United States, 251,000 immigrants work as home health aides, 599,000 immigrants are registered nurses, and another 98,000 immigrants are licensed practical and vocational nurses (Source: IRI analysis of ACS 2025 5-year data).
Immigrant workers in elder care are providing care for some of the most vulnerable people, showing care and love for our family members and providing others the opportunity to work while being ensured that their loved ones are in good hands. Why can’t the U.S. show them the same care, empathy and compassion?
Remember: when caregivers are detained, seniors are paying the price because detaining caregivers won’t solve labor shortages—it will deepen them.