The state’s largest nursing home association has asked the Department of Homeland Security to consider allowing Haitians with temporary protected status (TPS) to continue to work in long-term care and pursue “available lawful immigration pathways.”

Approximately 350,000 Haitian nationals nationwide hold TPS, of whom half are estimated to live in Florida.

“If roughly one in five Haitian TPS holders works in healthcare occupations, as national workforce analyses indicate, as many as 35,000 healthcare workers in Florida could be affected by recent policy changes,” a July 7 letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin from FHCA Chief Executive Officer J. Emmett Reed notes.

“While a portion of those individuals work in skilled nursing centers and other long term care settings, the loss of even a small percentage of these experienced caregivers would be detrimental to residents’ continuity of care as well as providers who are already struggling to fill essential positions.”

The FHCA is the state’s largest nursing home organization representing more than 650 facilities.

The Florida Hospital Association has yet to intervene. Neither has Jackson Health System, which employs 50 Haitians with temporary protected status, according to a spokesperson for the Miami hospital.

Congress created temporary protected status in 1990. Since then, a country receives a TPS designation after the Homeland Security secretary consults with the State Department to determine whether it meets certain qualifying conditions. A TPS designation applies if it’s too dangerous to return to the country based on violence, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. Protections can last from six to 18 months unless renewed.

TPS designation for Haiti began in 2010 following an earthquake that killed more than 500,000 people.

Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem determined that Haiti no longer met the conditions for its TPS designation. But a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order staying Noem’s decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling subsequently declare that Haitian and Syrian immigrants are not entitled to orders postponing an end to their TPS while litigation is pending. The ruling has the effect of stripping their deportation protections and work permits.