The Trump Administration is exploring limited exemptions to its immigration policies for certain industries facing a resulting spike in labor shortages, such as agriculture and hospitality. The administration has issued several policy reversals as a result of these labor shortages, including scaling back immigration raids due to pressure from the agricultural industry. Border czar Tom Homan indicated that a farm worker policy would be announced soon, which may include exemptions for industries disproportionately impacted, and President Trump has suggested a “touchback program” where workers would leave the U.S. and reenter through legal channels.
Argentum has been meeting with administration officials and advocating for an exemption for senior living communities impacted by the termination of the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) program, and similar temporary immigration programs. We believe that the unique challenges facing long-term care staffing, with a need to recruit and retain more than 20 million workers by the year 2040, coupled with the more stringent hiring practices of the industry compared to other sectors, demonstrates that an exemption for senior living workers who are facing deportation is appropriate in order to retain the caregiving workforce that has already been thoroughly vetted.
In Congress, lawmakers are continuing to pursue legislative solutions to immigration, including bipartisan efforts led by the House Problem Solvers Caucus seeking a bipartisan compromise solution on immigration, as well as the recently introduced Dignity Act (H.R. 4393, the Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2025). The Dignity Act seeks to secure the border, strengthen enforcement, provide a path to earn legal status for long-term undocumented immigrants living in the United States, and require employers nationwide to use E-verify.
Additionally, various federal courts have rendered decisions that may temporarily benefit some foreign-born workers in senior living and other industries that have entered the country legal under temporary protected status and other programs such as the CHNV Program. The Administration has already announced its intention to appeal some if not all of these decisions.
- On August 1, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb blocked the Trump administration from using expanded expedited removal procedures against migrants who entered the country legally through humanitarian parole programs ruling that the practice violates federal law. The decision in CHIRLA v. Noem protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were granted parole through programs including CBP One, the CHNV program, Uniting for Ukraine, and Operation Allies Welcome from fast-track deportations that bypass standard immigration court proceedings. Judge Cobb found the administration’s efforts illegal, arguing that the case presented “a question of fair play” for parolees who “played by the rules” and entered with government permission but were nonetheless targeted for summary removal.
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit partially blocked President Trump’s proclamation suspending asylum at the southern border on August 1. The court found that while the administration can pause access to the asylum system, it cannot ignore laws requiring protection for migrants who would face torture or persecution if deported. The three-judge panel lifted an administrative pause on District Judge Randolph Moss’s July ruling and narrowed the scope of relief to asylum-seekers already in the U.S. The ruling allows the administration to continue using the proclamation to deny discretionary asylum claims while requiring officials to process mandatory protections under withholding of removal and the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which both have higher legal thresholds. Following the court’s order, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents were directed to stop deportations under Trump’s asylum ban and resume processing migrants through standard immigration law, including expedited removal procedures.
- On July 31, U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson blocked the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 60,000 immigrants from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Nepal, ruling that the administration’s decisions violated federal law. Judge Thompson issued a temporary restraining order postponing the terminations until at least November 18. The protections for Nepalese nationals were scheduled to expire on August 5, while TPS for Hondurans and Nicaraguans was set to end on September 8. The latest ruling follows a federal court decision in July that similarly blocked the administration’s termination of TPS for Haiti, as judges have scrutinized the administration’s rationale for ending protections that affect more than one million immigrants nationwide. Since taking office, the Trump administration has attempted to terminate TPS for seven countries total. Venezuela’s TPS termination was initially blocked but the Supreme Court allowed it to become effective in May, and Afghanistan and Cameroon’s TPS terminations were allowed to proceed after a brief court block was lifted in July.
We encourage affected parties to consult with legal counsel and Argentum will continue to monitor and promote options to Congress and the Administration on ways that foreign-born workers that have legally entered the country may continue to have opportunities to serve residents of senior living and other care communities. If you are an Argentum member and have employees effected by recent immigration decisions, please contact Paul Williams ([email protected]) so that we can continue to advocate with Congress and federal agencies on the need for these workers and related challenges.