As of last week, all are at risk of being sent back. Temporary Protected Status, given to asylum applicants from dangerous countries, has been canceled for immigrants from specific countries. Among them are 353,000 Haitians, along with applicants from eight other countries. The Supreme Court is yet to rule on four more nations named in the DHS removal request.

“Broward County is one of about six counties that will be hit especially hard and have already begun to feel the effects of the July 24 SCOTUS decision,” she told us. “Two [agencies] there have already closed. One determined that 85 of its 86 caregivers are vulnerable for deportation. The other said that Creole-speaking clients made up 80 percent of its business.”

When the Department of Homeland Security announced “Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti,” the order included a little more than 353,000 Haitian asylum applicants, more than 112,000 of whom work in the U.S. healthcare system. Industry estimates indicate one-third of these healthcare workers, roughly 35,000 Haitians, live and work in Florida.

• Florida’s population is over 23.5 million
• 22.8 percent are over 65 years of age, roughly 5.35 million residents
• The national average is 18.9 percent
• The state has 16 caregivers per thousand residents
• The national average is 65 caregivers per thousand

When asked what recourse is available, Ms. Bellville said an association cannot do much. “We even talked with Hospital and LTC associations about working together,” she said. “All of them responded that, sadly, even if we work together, we do not have sufficient clout to make a difference.”

The U.S. welcomed Haitians when life became dangerous in their home country. Gang violence, a problem for decades, led to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. In the absence of leadership, street gangs took over. Life became cheap. Good people, even if unrelated to any gang, were murdered at random. Due to the rampant violence, the U.S. State Department maintains a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” warning for Haiti. Unemployment is 15 percent; among youth, it is more 37 percent.

The Biden administration processed asylum applications by the thousands. Border Patrol accepted most claims of danger back home. For four years, hopeful applicants, including Haitians, waited for their court asylum hearings. While they were waiting, they legally sought jobs in various sectors, more than a third of them in healthcare. 

Decades into a seemingly unsolvable, unending caregiver shortage, Home Care agency owners welcomed these new arrivals, trained them, and sent them out to care for the elderly in their homes, skilled nursing facilities, and rehab hospitals. Their fluency in Creole French and familiarity with Haitian culture made them invaluable in those communities.

On June 24, 2026, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Mullin v. Doe, denying a challenge to the terminations of TPS for Haiti and Syria. The decision granted DHS permission to move forward with implementing the terminations of TPS for those countries and eight others. Four more countries on the DHS list are expected to follow. 

Based on DHS published estimates of the cost of deportation ($17,121 per person), sending 353,000 Haitians back to their island will require an expenditure of $6.04 billion. Some of that cost may be reduced by voluntary deportations that do not involve the cost of law enforcement.

Anyone choosing to self deport may have to hurry. Enforcement has already begun. HCAF Director Denise Bellville told us that some of her member agencies have reported ICE agents have started knocking on their doors unannounced, demanding to conduct I-9 audits.

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©2026 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in The Rowan Report. One copy may be printed for personal use: further reproduction by permission only. editor@therowanreport.com