BOCA RATON, Fla. — Several foreign workers in South Florida are losing their jobs and facing removal from the U.S. following the Trump administration’s recent decision to end a program that granted temporary legal status to certain asylum seekers.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has officially ended the CHNV parole program, which provided immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela with authorization to live and work in the U.S. for two years. The Supreme Court upheld the program's cancellation two weeks ago. The decision affects more than 500,000 people nationwide.
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Locally, some employers are already seeing the consequences. At Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences, a retirement community in Boca Raton, 10 employees have been terminated due to the program’s end.
“Their work authorization had been terminated by the federal government, they’re no longer able to work here,” said Rachel Blumberg, president and CEO of Sinai Residences. “Our employees that were affected needed to deport immediately.”
Blumberg said the impacted employees were primarily from Cuba and Haiti and had been hired legally under the CHNV program. She says she spent Friday morning breaking the news to them.
“It was heartbreaking, it was full of tears and hugs and a lot of disbelief,” she said.
The living facility gave each affected worker $2,000 in severance to assist with their next steps.
“Each individual doesn’t have a plan. They don’t know where to go. They don’t know what to do,” Blumberg said.
It was news that was hard to accept for the people these employees cared for at the living facility.
“They have been part of what has made my life so secure and with quality for almost 10 years now and it’s like how dare somebody tell them they can’t continue to help me,” said resident Dorothy Wizer.
In a news release, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said:
Ending the CHNV parole programs, as well as the paroles of those who exploited it, will be a necessary return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First.
Blumberg, however, expressed concern about losing what she described as dedicated workers who came to the U.S. with permission.
“They’re actually excellent employees,” she said. “They have committed no crime. They have done nothing wrong. They are literally being deported because of where they were born.”
She said the loss will come with a financial cost—estimating an additional $600,000 annually to adjust wages that will attract workers in the United States.
Blumberg added that come August, another 28 employees will be forced to leave when they lose their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) .
“Losing them will create an entire huge gaping hole in the service industry for South Florida,” she said.
As a Jewish woman, Wizer said she understands the gravity of being displaced and feels the weight of the pressure facing these immigrants.
“If this can happen to people who show up to work everyday, do their job and are here to be helping hands, what comes next,” she asked.
