Camila was aware that she would have to watch out when she saw the Trump sign in the yard.
Camila* had arrived at a home in North Texas to meet the new family, for whom she would nanny, in February 2025.
The 22-year-old college student has never had legal documentation, but that has never been a problem. According to her experience, many families prefer to pay their childcare workers in cash. Despite this new family’s unique challenge, More Trump paraphernalia was found throughout the home’s interior. Camila says, “Trump everything, everywhere.” The father apparently works for Fox News.
Camila told Al Jazeera, “It was very ironic. There are two ways that a “hey, this is my legal situation” could have turned out. They might not have cared, or they might have instructed me to leave. And who knows what might have transpired then?
In the end, she made the decision to concentrate on her responsibilities as a mother-of-two. Camila’s uncomfortable encounter and the “chill” caused create a bigger issue.
The US’s childcare, home care, and elder care sectors have long been supported by immigrant labor, including undocumented workers. In light of Donald Trump’s second administration’s anti-immigrant policies and policies, including the threat of “mass deportations,” those struggling industries are now facing fresh threats that, according to experts, could have a “ripple effect” on millions of Americans.
According to Lori Smetanka, executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, “people are not showing up for work because they’re worried about workplace raids.”
And kids “have been really worried about their parents and whether or not they’re going to be coming home at the end of the day,” she continued.
“Attempted from every angle.”
The US Immigration Council and organizations like the American Immigration Council map the trillions of dollars immigrants’ taxes and spending power contribute to the US .
However, some industries are particularly vulnerable to changes in immigration policy.
For instance, nearly 30% of direct care workers in the US are immigrants, according to some studies. These roles have a far-reaching impact on communities across the nation, according to numerous experts who spoke to Al Jazeera.
According to Smetanka, “some of the policies that we’re seeing being put into place have ripple effects.” The policies, she continued, “are having an impact on immigrants’ ability to enter this country and obtain citizenship, feel secure there to stay and work, and provide the services that are required in those communities.”
Trump removed the “sensitive areas” guidance that had stymied immigration raids in places of employment, including churches and schools, shortly before his second term. Additionally, the government is denying or putting off H-1B visa applications, which goes against a ten-year trend of reducing access to a job-finding program.
In his announcement regarding the April 2 tariffs, President Trump stated that “we want people to enter our country, but we want them to enter through a legal process.” We need people to run these plants, and we need them to assist the autoworkers, the union workers, the non-union workers, and everyone else.
The president’s administration has restricted legal options by halting the refugee resettlement program in the face of this rhetoric. Then, in an interview on April 15, Trump suggested a new pathway for “great people” who could re-enter the country and obtain permanent citizenship if they first emigrate, and then get sponsorship from an employer.
Additionally, the president has suggested that applicants pay $5 million for a “gold card” visa.
The migration policy institute’s policy analyst Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh claimed the main goal of the policy is “seeming to be to bring wealth to the US.”
One would need to consider both the number of visas granted and the extent to which the legal pathways for immigrants are expanding, whether strengthening them reduce irregular migration, or the length of the visa processing process.
In other words, Trump’s plan to allow more immigrants through a “legal process” in his April 2 speech would require making visas easier to obtain, something he failed to do in his first term, when the rate of so-called legal immigration declined.
School administrators, nursing home leaders, and daycare providers are unsure of their options for hiring and how to protect them as a result of the revocation of their temporary protected status.
According to Wendy Cervantes, these modifications were intended to “attack immigrant families from every angle.”
The Center for Law and Social Policy’s director of immigration and immigrant families, Cervantes, and her team recently held a webinar to provide technical assistance to childcare providers in the US. More than 1, 000 people showed up, according to her, as a result of the “stress and fear” created by the new administration’s immigration policy.
She told Al Jazeera, “People are worried about staff as well as the parents,” adding that “they’re worried about the staff.”
In consequence, childcare administrators are learning about the ins and outs of warrants, including what kind of documentation and information required from an immigration officer to be permitted on the premises.
She said, “This understanding at least gives them some agency.” However, it’s incredibly frightening in that area.
“I want to stay,” the statement read.
Cervantes wants people to realize how much their lives are shaped by immigrants, in contrast to the economists who study the effects of deportations.
This is especially true for those whose families have ties to the elder care, home care, or childcare industries. In rural areas, 40 new counties have turned into nursing home deserts: areas where residents must travel long distances to get much-needed care. In addition, nearly 20% of all US seniors reside in rural areas.
When a nursing home closes, it leaves a community gaping, according to Smetanka. Patients who were likely to have few options at the time of their employment are left to find a new home in a rush. Similar to Cervantes, it’s difficult to quantify the harm done to a child’s psyche when they’re afraid of being deported. It’s also difficult to quantify the economic and psychological effects of this on a family or a community as a whole.
Despite all of this, Smetanka says it’s crucial to keep in mind that immigrants want to stay in the US and continue to work in places like nursing homes. Direct care workers’ average hourly pay increased by less than $3 between 2014 and 2023, but immigrants still have a lot of interest in the field of healthcare.
You won’t be able to replace the 10 people you deported with 10 American-born workers, says Austin, Texas’ Sarah Valdez, an immigration lawyer who practices law in Austin, Texas.
Camila, a nanny from North Texas, is one of those people who accepts long hours, little pay, and long hours. Although she chose the field because she needed to pay for her school and enjoys working with kids, she may not have chosen it for a long-term career.
She frequently feels as though she spends just as much time with her clients as their parents do. Her typical day includes waking up at 6 am and working until around 10 pm, as well as finding time for studying and classwork whenever she has free time. She has assisted a number of children in coping with divorce and unexpected family deaths, among other things.
I’m not sure what will happen to me because of everything that is going on in the world right now,” she said. I’m just taking it week after week, day by day. But I’m aware that I’ll stay. Simply put, I’m happy to be here at this moment.
