To the Editor:
Re “Migrant Policy Creating Crisis for Elder Care” (front page, July 22):
The heartbreaking disruptions to the caregiving work force caused by the Trump administration’s ruthless campaign against immigrants are poised to get even worse.
This fall, the Labor Department is expected to issue regulations stripping minimum wage and overtime protections for more than one million home care workers. These workers, disproportionately immigrant women, provide vital care to seniors and people with disabilities — assisting with basic activities like bathing, preparing meals and medication management and enabling them to remain at home instead of going into institutionalized settings.
Their wages are already among the lowest in the U.S. work force. Coupled with anticipated cuts to Medicaid benefits for in-home care, slashing workers’ pay to the bone will exacerbate turnover in an industry facing a severe labor shortage.
As your article demonstrates, each worker pushed out of caregiving leaves behind not just bewilderment and grief but also deep uncertainty about who will step in to deliver needed care.
Gillian Thomas New York The writer is a senior counsel at the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.
To the Editor:
For about 20 years at the end of their lives, my parents lived with me, my husband and our daughter. Both of my parents died in our home, in hospice care, in their 90s.
Your excellent article about the effects of immigration policies on elder care focuses on senior-care facilities, but the loss of immigrant workers also creates a crisis for families caring for loved ones at home.
As my parents became ill and unable to care for themselves, we relied on two part-time aides, including one from Haiti. It was only because of these wonderful women that we maintained our living arrangement for so long. They provided personal care, drove my parents to appointments and acted as compassionate companions.
These women enabled my parents to remain with people who loved them. They allowed me to continue working and contributing to our family’s financial stability. They enabled our daughter to enjoy a close relationship with her grandparents that sustains her even now.
Although my parents made plans for this care, it was expensive — and the changes wrought by the Trump administration will make it unavailable for many. We will regret the loss of immigrant workers. Even MAGA boomers get old.
Marilyn Tal Princeton, N.J.
Canceling Federal Grants Based on Politics
To the Editor:
Re “Politics Cost Blue States U.S. Grants” (Business, July 25):
So much of what the Trump administration has done is reprehensible, but canceling grants to states that did not vote for Donald Trump is over the top. How can Republican lawmakers be OK with this? How can anyone who believes in democracy be OK with it?
How much more damage is this administration going to do before Republicans find a shred of decency or respect for the rule of law? When will they say to Mr. Trump, “Enough!”?
I despair.
Terry Shames Los Angeles
No Politics in Uniform
To the Editor:
Re “To Rise in Hegseth’s Pentagon, an Admiral Relied on Politics” (front page, July 27):
Avoiding partisan bias or political activity applies to all active-duty members of the armed services, not just senior officers. In 25 years of service that ended 10 years ago, I took pride in the fact that none of my colleagues knew my politics, nor did I know theirs. Nor did I care. Nor did they. We just executed the mission.
Stephen Chamberlin Middlebury, Vt. The writer is a retired captain in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Rediscover Our Resilience
To the Editor:
Re “The Zombification of the United States,” by Stephen Marche (Opinion guest essay, July 11):
Mr. Marche offers a measure of hope that the allied nations have rediscovered their common resilience and thus their ability to withstand, outsmart and outlast this Trump term, with its harmful, cruel and often deadly policies and actions.
I wonder: What about those of us in the United States who must endure more than two additional years of the wreckage that we wake up to every morning? Can we find similar resilience to act daily, not await the final gasps of this administration?
Marcia L. Bailey Seattle
The post The Immigration Crackdown and the Plight of the Caregivers appeared first on New York Times.
