- Major industries face critical staffing gaps as TPS protections for hundreds of thousands expire in July 2026.
- Approximately 350,000 workers from Haiti and six other nations lose legal work authorization this month.
- The healthcare sector warns that thirteen thousand nursing assistants may be forced to stop working immediately.
Employers in health care, construction, hospitality, food processing and long-term care are preparing for staffing gaps as the government ends protections for large groups of immigrants, beginning with Haitians on July 24, 2026 and several other nationalities on July 17, 2026.
The first wave involves about 350,000 people from Haiti and other countries whose work permits are expiring. Employers say the losses will land in industries already struggling to fill vacancies.
The Department of Homeland Security moved after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2026 decision in Mullin v. Doe, which limited federal courts’ ability to review DHS decisions terminating Temporary Protected Status. The administration then advanced terminations affecting Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Employers now face a compliance deadline. USCIS guidance issued July 24 tells companies completing Form I-9 to treat July 27, 2026, as the final expiration date for Haitian TPS work authorization unless a worker presents another acceptable document.
The rules are changing quickly.
Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security, said on July 24 that Haiti no longer met the conditions for protection. She described the termination as a measure to “**uphold the law and return to common sense.**”
Businesses and labor advocates see a different result. They say the loss of experienced employees could reduce services at nursing homes, hospitals, senior-living facilities, hotels, farms, meatpacking plants and food-processing facilities.
Roughly 70% of TPS holders participate in the labor force, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers. One estimate counts 13,000 nursing assistants with TPS who provide daily care for 65,000 patients.
Health care and service employers say replacements will not arrive quickly
Long-term care operators face some of the clearest risks. Nursing homes and senior-living facilities depend on workers who already know residents, procedures and schedules. Replacing them requires hiring, screening and training.
Hospitals and other health-care employers also warned that losing staff could force them to reduce services. The same pressure extends to hospitality, agriculture, construction, meatpacking and food processing.
Florida hospitality employers asked for a 90- to 120-day implementation runway to fill open positions. Their request reflects the short notice businesses face as employees’ authorization expires and employers must update their records.
A labor shortage could also affect local economies. Employers in Massachusetts and Ohio said Haitian workers had become central to their workforces, particularly in health care and elder care.
Andrea Campbell, Massachusetts attorney general, said June 25 that the decision would affect “thousands of TPS holders” working in essential roles across the state’s health-care and elder-care industries.
Mike DeWine, Ohio’s governor, criticized the planned removal of Haitians from communities including Springfield. He said:
“The policy to remove these individuals from this country is a mistake. changing the immigration status of these individuals is not in the best interest of the United States nor Ohio.”
Roxana Rivera, assistant to the president at SEIU 32BJ, said July 26 that the terminations were a “racist act.” She added that “**the service sector. can’t operate without immigrant workers.**”
The first deadlines cover several nationalities, with Salvadorans next
The work authorization changes extend beyond Haiti. Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen also face TPS terminations, with USCIS notices briefly extending some employment documents before their final expiration dates.
The dates have shifted as the administration and courts dealt with continuing litigation. USCIS used interim dates of July 10, July 17 and July 27 while district court injunctions remained in place, including litigation in Miot et al. v. Trump et al. in the District of Columbia.
A separate order offered limited relief. On July 21, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton of Massachusetts temporarily blocked the administration from revoking work permits for certain asylum seekers.
That order did not preserve TPS for the groups covered by the termination decisions.
About 190,000 Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries could lose their status when the designation expires in September 2026. The broader rollback has been described as potentially affecting between 1 million and 1.3 million immigrants across more than a dozen countries, although the immediate work-permit deadlines involve smaller groups.
The administration’s stated approach is to end designations for countries it considers no longer eligible for TPS. Once the designation ends, employment authorization tied to that status expires on the government’s schedule unless the worker qualifies for another basis of authorization.
Employers are calculating the cost of losing trained workers
The workforce consequences extend beyond unfilled shifts. The Brookings Institution estimates that removing these workers could reduce combined consumer spending by $60 billion to $110 billion during 2025 and 2026.
Workers who lose authorization may also stop spending in the communities where they live. Businesses that depend on those customers could feel the effect alongside employers trying to replace staff.
Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian community leader in Springfield, Ohio, said the policy was creating fear among people who depend on regular paychecks.
“I think this creates more fear. folks live paycheck to paycheck. if you do not have [employment], automatically you won’t be able to provide for yourself or for your kids.”
The threat extends to families whose members hold different immigration statuses. Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said July 24:
“It is impossible for them to be [taken back to Haiti]. it is impossible for them to be safe.”
Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, director-general of Haiti’s National Office of Migration, said the U.S. Embassy notified him to expect weekly deportation flights carrying about 250 former TPS holders beginning this week.
People identified as ICE sources also indicated that a major enforcement operation targeting Haitian migrants who lost status could begin this week, with Springfield, Ohio, among the locations receiving particular attention.
Businesses are facing the deadline under a changed work-permit system
The compliance rules also reflect legislation enacted last year. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, became law in July 2025 and limited automatic employment-document extensions to exactly one year after a card’s expiration, replacing the former 540-day extension rule.
That change gives employers less room to keep relying on expired documents while a worker waits for a renewal or another immigration decision. Companies must review each employee’s documents and determine whether another valid authorization supports continued employment.
Labor advocates and business leaders warned that the terminations could create “chaos in workplaces and disrupt key industries.” The warning is especially pointed in sectors where employers already report persistent vacancies and where training new workers can take months.
The next major deadline arrives in September, when Salvadoran beneficiaries face the possible loss of status. Until then, employers must apply the July 27 date to Haitian work authorizations unless employees provide alternative documentation.
