{"id":981,"date":"2025-03-09T13:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T13:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/undocumented-workers-fearing-deportation-are-staying-home\/"},"modified":"2025-03-09T13:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T13:24:10","slug":"undocumented-workers-fearing-deportation-are-staying-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/undocumented-workers-fearing-deportation-are-staying-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Undocumented Workers, Fearing Deportation, Are Staying Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The railroad tracks that slice through downtown Freehold, N.J., used to be lined by dozens of men, waiting for work. Each morning, the men \u2014 day laborers, almost all from Latin America and undocumented \u2014 would be scooped up by local contractors in pickup trucks for jobs painting, landscaping, removing debris.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent weeks, the tracks have been desolate. On a gray February morning, a laborer named Mario, who came from Mexico two decades ago, said it was the quietest he could remember.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBecause of the president, we have a fear,\u201d said Mario, 55, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that only his first name would be used because he is undocumented. His two sons are also in the United States illegally; one works in paving, the other in home construction. \u201cWe are in difficult times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This scene has been playing out on the streets of Freehold, on the farms of California\u2019s Central Valley, in nursing homes in Arizona, in Georgia poultry plants and in Chicago restaurants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Trump has broadcast plans for a \u201cmass deportation,\u201d and the opening weeks of his second term have brought immigration enforcement operations in cities across the United States, providing a daily drumbeat of arrests that, while so far relatively limited, are quickly noted in group chats among migrants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Fear has gripped America\u2019s undocumented workers. Many are staying home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The impact is being felt not only in immigrant homes and communities, but also in the industries that rely on immigrants as a source of willing and inexpensive labor, including residential construction, agriculture, senior care and hospitality. American consumers will soon feel the pain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBusinesses across industries know what comes next when their work force disappears \u2014 restaurants, coffee shops and grocery stores struggling to stay open, food prices soaring, and everyday Americans demanding action,\u201d said Rebecca Shi, chief executive of the American Business Immigration Coalition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An estimated 20 percent of the U.S. labor force is foreign born, and millions of immigrant workers lack legal immigration status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hundreds of thousands more have been shielded from deportation and have work permits under a program called temporary protected status, offered to nationals of countries in upheaval, which has enabled corporate giants like Amazon and large commercial builders to hire them. But Mr. Trump has already announced that he will phase out the program, starting with Venezuelan and Haitian beneficiaries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Refugees from around the globe, who have settled in the United States after fleeing persecution, have supplied a steady pipeline of low-skilled labor for poultry plants, warehouses and manufacturing. But that pipeline could dry up since Mr. Trump shut down the U.S. refugee program. Last month, a federal judge restored it temporarily while a lawsuit is pending, but the program remains at a standstill and no refugees are arriving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The White House did not respond to questions about the strategy of deportations and how the Trump administration envisions filling the gaps left behind by the immigrant work force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Leaders of industries that are the most exposed warn that the impact will be widespread, with far-reaching consequences for consumers and employers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kezia Scales, vice president at PHI, a national research and advocacy organization focused on long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities, said her industry was already facing a \u201crecruitment crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf immigrants are prevented from entering this work force or are forced to leave the country by restrictive immigration policies and rhetoric,\u201d she said, \u201cwe will face systems collapse and catastrophic consequences for millions of people who rely on these workers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-327d58a5\">Warning of Higher Costs<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In construction, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/immigrationforum.org\/article\/immigrant-construction-workers-in-the-united-states\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">up to 19 percent of all workers are undocumented<\/a>, according to independent estimates \u2014 and the share is higher in many states. Their contribution is even more pronounced in residential construction, where industry leaders have warned of an acute labor shortage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAny removals of construction workers is going to exacerbate that problem,\u201d said Nik Theodore, a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. \u201cInevitably, it will slow the work, which leads to cost increases, because of the production delays.\u201d This would have a profound impact on the construction industry and everybody involved, from developers to private homeowners, Mr. Theodore said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In commercial construction, a tightening labor market would raise costs because of upward pressure on wages, said Zack Fritz, an economist with Associated Builders and Contractors, a national construction trade association.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The group\u2019s chief executive, Michael D. Bellaman, said he welcomed many aspects of what he deemed Mr. Trump\u2019s \u201cderegulation, pro-growth agenda.\u201d But he and others in the industry also called for an overhaul of the immigration system, including by expanding work visas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Commercial building relies on many workers with temporary protected status, Mr. Bellaman said; some have been in the industry for decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mayor of Houston, John Whitmire, said people who think his city and the country can thrive without the labor of undocumented immigrants \u201cdon\u2019t live in the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou know who\u2019s paving our roads and building our houses,\u201d said Mr. Whitmire, a Democrat. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-41d572bd\">Challenges in Elder Care<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The senior care industry faces a similar challenge: growing demand for workers, and not enough native-born Americans to do the work. Those jobs have increasingly been filled by immigrants with varying legal statuses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Adam Lampert has spent 15 years in the industry in Texas, mainly managing care for the parents of baby boomers. The business is thriving \u2014 and a silver tsunami is on the horizon, he warns: The number of adults 65 or older in the United States totaled 60 million in 2022, and is projected to exceed 80 million by 2050.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBaby boomers are yet to wash through the system, and they will be a full new generation we will have to address,\u201d said Mr. Lampert, the chief executive of Manchester Care Homes and Cambridge Caregivers, based in Dallas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some 80 percent of his caregivers are foreign born. \u201cWe don\u2019t go out looking for people who are immigrants,\u201d he said. \u201cWe go out hiring people who answer the call \u2014 and they are all immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Everyone he hires has permission to lawfully work in the United States, he said, but if the mass deportations promised by Mr. Trump materialize, recruitment will become tougher in an industry already struggling with it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are five million people working directly with clients in what is considered the formal senior care industry, made up of those who can legally hold jobs in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In New York, two-thirds of those working in homes are foreign-born, as are nearly half in California and Maryland. Countless others take part in the vast gray market, potentially worth billions of dollars, employed by families who hire in-home aides, many of them undocumented, by word of mouth or online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The caregivers in private homes support seniors with essential activities of daily life, helping them eat, dress, bathe and use the toilet. They escort them to doctors\u2019 appointments and manage their medications. It is low-skill, low-pay work, but requires a certain temperament, physical strength and patience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If tens of thousands of undocumented caregivers were deported, there would be more competition for fewer caregivers, experts say. The cost of in-home care would climb.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Often green card holders and U.S. citizens have undocumented family members, and these mixed-status families have been under strain as immigration crackdowns have intensified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Molly Johnson, general manager of FirstLight Home Care, a licensed agency in California, has rapidly expanded her roster of caregivers to meet galloping demand since starting the business five years ago. All her workers have passed background checks, she said, and are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But recently, one of the standout caregivers, a native-born American, suddenly quit because her mother was detained by immigration agents. The person she cared for was distraught.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cUnfortunately, we are going to be seeing more of this trickle-down effect,\u201d Ms. Johnson said. \u201cIf it\u2019s not our caregiver, it\u2019s their loved one impacted by enforcement actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-5152859c\">A Test for Growers<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During the Covid-19 pandemic, the immigrant men and women employed at Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, Calif. \u2014 and across the country, in vast fields and food processing plants \u2014 were anointed \u201cessential workers\u201d by the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like other growers, Tom Deardorff, who runs the vegetable farm, printed cards for his workers to show law enforcement officers, in case they were stopped on their way to the fields, declaring that the Department of Homeland Security considered them \u201ccritical to the food supply chain.\u201d Their immigration status was not of concern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese people have come into our country to do this work,\u201d said Mr. Deardorff, a fourth-generation grower. \u201cWe owe them not just \u2018thank you.\u2019 We owe them the common decency and dignity to not be threatened by government draconian penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, with Mr. Trump in the White House, many immigrants who harvest strawberries, vegetables and citrus in this agriculture-rich stretch of Southern California face possible detention and deportation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The U.S. farming sector has suffered a labor shortage for decades. Immigrants, mainly from Mexico and Central America, have filled the void: Farmers say they cannot find American-born laborers to do the strenuous work. More than 40 percent of the nation\u2019s crop workers are immigrants without legal status, according to estimates by the Department of Agriculture, yet many have lived in the United States for decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe argument that some have made, from time immemorial, is that people will do these jobs if all the immigrants leave,\u201d said Janice Fine, a professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University. \u201cBut there is no guarantee that employers will raise wages or improve working conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-14\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She said there had been a \u201cmisunderstanding of the labor market.\u201d The reason American citizens aren\u2019t in the agriculture sector \u2014 or elder care, or residential construction \u2014 isn\u2019t solely about money, she said. These jobs, she said, \u201care low-wage, low-status, high-exploitation unless workers organize unions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A three-day crackdown in California\u2019s Central Valley in January, before Mr. Trump took office, showed the potential effects of large-scale enforcement in farming areas. Absenteeism soared after Border Patrol agents conducted sweeps in Bakersfield. They stopped and arrested people at a Home Depot, at gas stations and along a heavily trafficked route to farms, according to the Nisei Farmers League, a grower association.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some 30 to 40 percent of workers failed to report to the fields in the days that followed, according to the league, which represents about 500 growers and packers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gregory K. Bovino, a Border Patrol chief in Southern California, called the operation an \u201coverwhelming success\u201d that resulted in the arrests of 78 people in the country illegally, including some with \u201cserious criminal histories.\u201d Farmworker advocates said many others without criminal records had been rounded up, too.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-97eef99\">Bracing for More Raids<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-15\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Migrants and advocacy organizations are bracing for more raids.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Princeton, N.J., one rainy February evening, around a dozen day laborers gathered for a meeting with Resistencia en Acci\u00f3n, a New Jersey group focused on immigrant workers, part of a sprawling organization called the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The workers had different immigration statuses \u2014 some had temporary protected status or other forms of protection; others were undocumented. They worked as drivers and pavers, in restaurants and in mechanic shops. One man, who worked in a window factory, said he was terrified that federal agents would come to his workplace, where dozens of other Latin American immigrants toiled. Others said they had been working fewer hours in recent weeks, out of fear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One man, who said he worked chopping fish, fruits and vegetables for a small grocery store, wondered aloud: \u201cWhat white person is going to do these jobs?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The railroad tracks that slice through downtown Freehold, N.J., used to be lined by dozens of men, waiting for work. Each morning, the men \u2014 day laborers, almost all from Latin America and undocumented \u2014 would be scooped up by local contractors in pickup trucks for jobs painting, landscaping, removing debris. In recent weeks, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[652,651,210,653,650,380],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-deportation","tag-fearing","tag-home","tag-staying","tag-undocumented","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}