Amid Trump's immigration crackdown, local employers wonder: Who will fill all the jobs?

Boston Globe

28-04-2025

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And amid the chaos, business owners are beginning to wrestle with a difficult question: Who'll fill all their jobs if immigrants go away?
With many businesses — from construction and landscaping to hotels and gift shops — gearing up for spring, the Trump administration's revocation of protections for various immigrant groups is straining an already-tight labor market. A growing drumbeat of messaging from federal authorities that people here without permanent status should simply leave has many employers and advocates quietly wondering who exactly will wash dishes, clean office buildings, and staff nursing homes if they do.
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'I think the economic impact is going to be huge,' said Helena DaSilva Hughes, who runs the Immigrants' Assistance Center in New Bedford. 'Nobody is talking about it yet because they don't want to bring attention to it.'
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President Trump has been clamping down on immigrants since his first day in office, when he issued executive orders limiting access and tightening enforcement. Since then, his administration has
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Ethan Auclair, 12, held a sign reading "Dignity Not Deportations" during a pro-democracy rally at Hancock Adams Common in Quincy on April 19.
Erin Clark/Globe Staff
Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter to people who were granted humanitarian parole — temporary entry for people with a credible fear of returning to their home countries — noting that their legal status would be terminated in seven days. 'Do not remain in the United States,' the letter said. 'The federal government will find you.' DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment.
Nationwide, immigrants made up nearly one-fifth
'Our industry is very dependent on labor that the average American does not want to do, whether it's dishwashing or flipping burgers for a living,' said the owner of the suburban restaurant west of Boston who — like many business owners reached by the Globe — requested anonymity to avoid drawing attention from immigration authorities. 'And the labor force we use tends to be an immigration population. I'd love to know who's going to clean the toilets at Trump's towers and everywhere else.'
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The owner has been trying for days to find legal support for a worker who was told by ICE agents to buy a plane ticket and self-deport by May 7. That employee, she said, came here from Guatemala with his wife and daughter two years ago, seeking political asylum. He has a work permit and a Social Security number, and has been checking in monthly with a local ICE office while his asylum case is being processed. But now he's being ordered to leave.
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'We're all just terrified,' she said.
It's a new and complicated reality for companies and workers who have long played by the rules.
Employers searching for workers in Chelsea's produce center or the fish processing plants in New Bedford often rely on LaborNow, a local staffing agency in Braintree that specializes in finding workers for manufacturing jobs. Michael Powers, an analyst at the firm, said it has always followed federal and Massachusetts protocols for hiring, but as of March it has begun using the federal government's voluntary E-verify system for all workers they offer jobs to. It's a step that 'generally will dissuade people from applying who don't have good paperwork,' he said.
Michael Powers worked in his home office for the staffing agency LaborNow. He is an analyst for the firm, which specializes in finding workers for manufacturing jobs.
Debee Tlumacki
The scope and scale of what the administration has done in its opening months has taken immigration advocates aback. The constant rollback of protected status designations — and the lawsuits filed to challenge them — has groups like Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition scrambling to help immigrants and employers alike understand the state of play.
'The lessons from the first Trump administration really did not prepare us for the severity of how many different areas would be attacked and changed,' said MIRA's executive director Elizabeth Sweet. 'The pace of this is quite extraordinary and it's leaving everyone reeling.'
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Lower-wage jobs in particular have high numbers of newly arrived immigrant workers. An estimated
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Jose de la Rosa, chief executive of Guardian Healthcare in Jamaica Plain, said two of his home health care workers from Cape Verde were recently stopped by ICE agents in New Bedford and asked to show their papers, despite being in the US legally. The women were each questioned for over an hour, and missed their appointments to see elderly patients, he said.
'We only knew about it because the patients called, asking 'Where's my aide? She's not here,'' he said.
Both women were released, but one was so upset she resigned on the spot, de la Rosa said, telling him she was afraid to be out in public. The uncertainty, he said, is upending his ability to support his workers and serve his clients.
'I'm not against immigration laws and I'm not saying that immigration laws should be broken,' de la Rosa said. 'But if you enforce immigration laws, there has to be a process.'
Several local restaurateurs acknowledged that their industry depends on undocumented workers, especially in the kitchen, and those numbers are sure to rise if those working here legally have their protections revoked. Many unauthorized immigrants
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There is 'a drastic increase in anxiety and fear' throughout the restaurant industry, which is already grappling with staffing shortages, said Anne Eisemann, founder of the Boston human resources consulting firm Hopdov. Eisemann, a former employment lawyer who works with restaurants around New England, has been schooling restaurateurs about immigration enforcement, including the fact that ICE agents need a warrant signed by a judge to access private spaces or arrest a worker onsite.
But many employers aren't aware of their workers' immigration status beyond the fact that they're authorized to work, immigration attorneys said, and might not realize how much the termination of temporary protections could affect their workforce.
And in heavily Latino cities like Lynn, Chelsea, and Lawrence, restaurant owners have seen sales plummet because their customers are avoiding public spaces — particularly at night — for fear of raids or immigration status checks, said Eneida Roman, the chief executive of We Are ALX, an advocacy group supporting Latino leaders and business owners in Massachusetts.
'They're suffering,' she said. 'Restaurants are empty because people aren't going out as much.'
As summer approaches, the immigrant crackdown could also
have a devastating impact on popular tourist destinations that depend on short-term — and often foreign-born — workers.
Visitors on Main Street in downtown Hyannis in August 2023.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
One major source of seasonal employment on Cape Cod — the State Department's J-1 visa program that allows international students to temporarily travel and work in the United States — was already facing a drop in interest following Trump's actions. Now the program itself appears to be on the chopping block, according to an
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If these changes come to pass, they would cripple the Cape Cod labor force, said Paul Niedzwiecki, who heads the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, leaving visitors and employers subject to disruptions akin to what took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Restaurants are the canaries in the coal mine,' he said, predicting that travelers will again find limited menus, changed hours, and longer lines if restaurants can't staff up.
'It will definitely change the visitors' experience,' he said.
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The parallels to the COVID crisis are striking to many employers, and several noted they're drawing from their pandemic playbooks to navigate through this new crisis. There's one major difference however, said DaSilva Hughes, the immigrant advocate in New Bedford.
'During COVID we hailed these front-line workers as heroic,' she said. 'How ironic that we went from calling them heroes to wanting them out of the United States.'
A view of Crapo Street in New Bedford, where Helena DaSilva Hughes's office is. She runs the Immigrants' Assistance Center in New Bedford.
Debee Tlumacki
This story was produced by the Globe's
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Katie Johnston can be reached at