{"id":358159,"date":"2026-07-30T22:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358159\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:52:07","slug":"end-of-haitian-tps-concerns-florida-healthcare-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358159\/","title":{"rendered":"End of Haitian TPS concerns Florida healthcare workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 As Temporary Protected Status (TPS) ends for many Haitians, healthcare leaders are warning that Florida could lose thousands of experienced workers at a time when hospitals and long-term care facilities are already struggling to fill open positions.<\/p>\n

Rose Theo, a Haitian-born registered nurse and nurse educator who has lived in the United States since 1991, said she’s already seeing the effects in classrooms and healthcare settings as many Haitian TPS holders lose their work authorization.<\/p>\n

“In the healthcare industry, we have a lot of Haitian nurses, CNA, respiratory therapists,” Theo said.<\/p>\n

She worries that the effect will extend beyond the workers themselves.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to see a lot of depression, anxiety, and of course, the healthcare going to have again, more and more and more sick,” Theo said.<\/p>\n

The Florida Health Care Association<\/a> estimates roughly 35,000 Haitian healthcare workers are employed throughout Florida’s long-term care system. Earlier this month, the association urged the federal government to minimize disruptions, warning that losing even a small percentage of those caregivers could further strain nursing homes already facing staffing shortages.<\/p>\n

The state’s largest health care workers union, 1199SEIU, also criticized the decision, saying the loss of Haitian TPS workers could disrupt patient care while forcing experienced clinicians out of the workforce.<\/p>\n

The issue has also drawn concern from local leaders.<\/p>\n

Tampa City Council member Luis Viera said that many Haitian families who entered the country through legal immigration programs now face uncertainty.<\/p>\n

“What I’ve seen from many of my Haitian brothers and sisters who have come here through the legal route, as is reflected in TPS … that hostility has resulted in so much chaos and doubt and hurt in the Haitian American community,” Viera said.<\/p>\n

Theo said many Haitians understand TPS was designed as a temporary humanitarian program, but believes current conditions in Haiti make returning unsafe for many families.<\/p>\n

“They want to go home. They wish they can go home… but yet they cannot go because home is blocked,” she said.<\/p>\n

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Haiti’s TPS designation has been terminated. However, attorneys say legal proceedings continue over how the Supreme Court’s ruling will be implemented, leaving some uncertainty for affected workers and employers.<\/p>\n

More than 330,000 Haitians nationwide had been protected under TPS, with Florida home to the nation’s largest Haitian TPS population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 As Temporary Protected Status (TPS) ends for many Haitians, healthcare leaders are warning that Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3948,6466,4318,3140,2375,28,30,29,571,276,115,139,99,135,278],"class_list":["post-358159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-app-health","tag-app-latest-health-stories","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-health","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-politics","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}