SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA — Janeth, a Honduran nursing assistant in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost her job due to her immigration status. The Trump administration revoked Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras last year, with employment terminations beginning in 2025.

Janeth had been in the United States for over two decades on TPS. She migrated to the country with her daughter in 1998, and TPS for Honduras had been in place since 1999. During her 23-year career, Janeth won a national nursing award seven times.

Janeth worked with post-surgery and cardiac patients at a Kaiser Permanente hospital. She recently moved in with her daughter along with her 85-year-old mother because she can no longer pay her mortgage. "I was in a state of shock. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep," Janeth said. "If there's anybody who can recover, it's your mother." She added, "I just want my job back, I just want my life back. I want to take care of my patients again."

The Trump administration announced the termination of TPS for Honduras in September of the previous year. Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency in 2025. The administration has ended or attempted to end protected status for 13 of the 17 countries with TPS designations, including Honduras, Venezuela, Syria, and Haiti. A Supreme Court decision is anticipated this month regarding whether the government can immediately end TPS for Haitians.

A DHS spokesperson said in a podcast interview that TPS was never designed to be permanent, adding that previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program. TPS is a legal program established in 1990 that has allowed more than a million people to live and work in the U.S. Individuals from countries facing conflict, environmental disaster, or other circumstances that make it unsafe to return are granted TPS, which does not lead to permanent residency or citizenship. The secretary of homeland security determines whether a country meets the criteria for TPS protection, and designation can be made for up to 18 months at a time.

Kimberly Pierce Burke, executive director of the Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers, stated, "Just because we are stopping immigration pathways and banning people from these countries doesn't mean we can ban patients, too. They continue to come to hospitals and nursing homes, except now there is a shortage of people who can attend to their needs." According to FWD.us estimates, nearly 1.3 million people in the U.S. were on TPS as of early 2025, with at least 50,000 of them working in the healthcare sector.