Politics & Government
These NJ Workers Were Hailed As ‘Essential.’ Now They’re Being Deported
Have a loved one in a nursing home? There's a good chance that an immigrant is taking care of them right now, these health care workers say.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — They were hailed as “essential workers” during the coronavirus pandemic. They have been living, working and paying taxes in the United States for years. Now they’re being stripped of their legal status and swept into mass deportation efforts – and the patients who depend on them will also suffer, advocates say.
On Thursday, nursing home employees throughout New Jersey took part in a nationwide “day of action,” demanding that Congress protect their co-workers from the ongoing federal immigration crackdown.
Groups of workers wearing scrubs and holding signs took part in rallies in Newark, Perth Amboy, Englewood, East Orange and Elizabeth.
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“My co-workers come from all over – Latin America, Africa and Asia,” said Limarie Semidey, a housekeeper at Sinai Post-Acute Nursing & Rehab Center in Newark.
“We speak different languages, just like many of the residents we care for,” Semidey said.
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More than half of all direct care workers in New Jersey are immigrants, including certified nursing assistants, personal care aides and home health care workers. Nationally, almost 20 percent of essential caregivers and providers in hospitals, nursing homes and home and community-based care were born outside of the United States. Most are citizens, but almost a million hold other legal work permissions, according to the “Healthcare Needs All Of Us” campaign.
The revocation of federal temporary protected status for nearly 330,000 Haitians living in the U.S. has had an especially harmful impact on New Jersey’s nursing home workforce, according to 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
Workers are calling on Congress to take the following steps, the union said:
- “Immediately restore legal status for TPS holders and other immigrants”
- “Pass the Dream and Promise Act to create a pathway to citizenship”
- “End discriminatory travel bans and processing delays crippling our health care system pipeline”
- “Prioritize funding for health care instead of blank checks for ICE and deportations”
Denise Evans, a transportation aide at Sinai Post-Acute, said that residents depend on immigrant workers to care for them.
“It’s a shame that people who are trying to live and trying to do right, coming here for a better life while providing care for others, are being discriminated against,” Evans said.
In the past few months, North Jersey has been seeing increased reports of ICE arrests in large cities like Newark, as well as nearby suburbs like Montclair and Bloomfield. Many of those arrested were on their way to work.
- Related: ICE Arrests Roofers, Chef, Handyman In Essex County
- Related: ICE Arrests Landscapers In North Jersey; Deportations Planned, Feds Say
TAXES AND IMMIGRATION
The Trump administration has claimed that illegal immigration costs American taxpayers more than $150 billion per year.
“That number will only grow unless our nation’s laws are enforced,” the Department of Homeland Security recently said. “Deportations are absolutely vital to stop the bleeding.”
Some conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation have put forth similar numbers, with the foundation recently claiming that the current population of undocumented immigrants imposes net fiscal costs of at least $110 billion per year on U.S. taxpayers.
“How much is $110 billion? It is the equivalent of an 82-cent tax on every gallon of gas sold in the U.S.,” a senior research fellow with the foundation wrote last year.
Some ways that illegal immigration is costing taxpayers include increased demand on public schools, roads and sewer/water infrastructure, and police/fire departments, he argued.
On the flip side of the coin, some experts have countered that undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes, while not being able to access many of the services that their money fuels, such as Social Security or Medicare.
According to data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants in the U.S. paid $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022.
“Much like their neighbors, undocumented immigrants pay sales and excise taxes on goods and services like utilities, household products, and gasoline,” the think tank explains. “They pay property taxes either directly on their homes or indirectly when these taxes are folded into the price of their monthly rent. And they pay income and payroll taxes through automatic withholding from their paychecks or by filing income tax returns using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers.”
Nonprofit think-tank Economic Policy Institute recently released an online calculator that shows how many federal tax dollars are being spent on mass deportations in every U.S. state, county and city. It also shows what that money could be spent on instead, such as teachers, housing and health care.
The mass deportations taking place currently taking place could end up costing the average New Jersey taxpayer nearly $3,000, the study says.
NATIONAL CRACKDOWN
President Donald Trump and Homeland Security officials have insisted that a nationwide crackdown is needed to push back against a “large-scale invasion” of illegal immigration.
“Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans,” Trump declared shortly after taking office for his second term.
Advocates and family members of ICE detainees have pushed back against the claim that most of them are “criminals,” however.
Earlier this year, data research organization Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reported that out of 60,311 people held in ICE detention across the nation, about 70.8 percent had no criminal conviction before being apprehended – and many of those who do were convicted only of minor offenses such as traffic violations.
Large-scale ICE raids also took place under former President Joe Biden’s watch, including in New Jersey.
Before Trump took office for his second term, hundreds of people were being arrested and deported from the ICE office in Newark every month under the Biden administration.
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