How Trump’s immigration plans could affect care for your elderly parents

Terry Hodge would have a tough time caring for the 150 or so elderly women at Bethany Health Care Center without the dozens of immigrant nursing assistants, housekeepers, dietary aides and other staffers at the Framingham, Massachusetts, facility.

Terry Hodge would have a tough time caring for the 150 or so elderly women at Bethany Health Care Center without the dozens of immigrant nursing assistants, housekeepers, dietary aides and other staffers at the Framingham, Massachusetts, facility. More than 40% of her employees were born abroad, hailing from 26 countries, including Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ghana, said Hodge, the center’s administrator. Among the certified nursing assistants, the figure is 84%. They are workers whom Bethany “can’t afford to lose,” she said, noting they help residents get out of bed, escort them to the bathroom, dress and feed them, give them medication and talk to them. “Our residents rely heavily on the care and companionship of the nursing staff and the housekeeping staff,” Hodge continued. “The immigrant workers are very crucial to the functioning of this facility and to the physical and mental health of the people they serve.” That’s why President Donald Trump’s vow to deport millions of immigrants in the US and restrict the influx of new arrivals has so concerned Hodge and her workers — particularly those who are asylum seekers and beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and Temporary Protected Status programs since Trump has tried to target these measures in the past. “They are extremely anxious about what the future holds for them,” she said. “We, as a facility, are anxious about losing any staff.”