The immigrants caring for the nation's elderly are losing their jobs

• Advocates and policy experts warn the quality of care that people receive is under threat.

What they're saying: "We have facilities with empty wings and it's not for lack of residents — it's just for lack of staff," says Robin Wolzenburg, senior vice president of clinical and regulatory services with LeadingAge Wisconsin.

• Wolzenburg coordinates with resettlement agencies to fill healthcare vacancies, placing refugees in jobs in housekeeping, dietary services and other ancillary positions that keep facilities running.
• Not this year. The Trump administration has suspended refugee programs, and now she's struggling to fill vacancies.

By the numbers: Foreign-born workers make up 30% of the nursing home housekeeping and maintenance workforce, according to data provided by LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit providers of aging services. That's compared to 19% of the overall workforce, per the Labor Department.

• More than 41% of home health aides in the U.S. last year were foreign-born, according to unpublished data provided to Axios by the Labor Department.
• 22% of nursing assistants are foreign-born, and 28% of personal care aides.

Case in point: "When it comes to supporting someone with autism or someone with Alzheimer's, the relationship with the care worker is so incredibly important," says Nicole Jorwic, chief program officer at Caring Across Generations, a nonprofit advocacy group.

• A beloved caregiver for an autistic young man in Virginia, for example, is facing deportation over a minor crime committed years ago, the New York Times recently reported — and his patient is struggling to adapt to life without him.

Zoom out: Nursing homes have long faced worker shortages — a situation that reached crisis levels in the pandemic.

• Areas with more immigrant labor were better able to weather the storm, says David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
• Places with more immigrant workers also offered better quality care, per research he published earlier this year.
• "A lot of people say foreign-born workers crowd out jobs, or lead to worse quality. That's not the case here," he says.

Zoom in: Last Friday, Rachel Blumberg, the CEO of Toby and Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences, a senior living community in Boca Raton, Fla., learned that 10 of her employees were being deported after the White House pulled permission for them to live and work in the U.S.

• She had to fire them, calling them into her office one-by-one to break the news.

• "It kind of felt like a funeral," she tells Axios. "One person after another. It's hard to look somebody in the eyes and tell them 'you can't work here, even though you are an amazing employee.' "
• 30 more Haitian employees are likely to get the same news on August 3, when their temporary protected status is set to end.
• She estimates she'll have to spend another $600,000 per year in higher wages to attract more workers — costs that will be passed on to residents.

Yes, but: Not every facility can raise pay. Those that rely heavily on Medicaid funding might not have the resources.

• These places are also facing the possibilities of Medicaid cuts in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

For the record: "There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force, and President Trump's agenda to modernize our workforce represents this Administration's commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential while delivering on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws," White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

• He pointed to data showing that 1 in 10 people age 16-24 are unemployed.

The bottom line: Immigrants play a crucial role in taking care of some of the most vulnerable Americans —  and now they're being pushed out of the country.