Georgia's elder care system could lose workers it cannot replace now that Haitians have lost Temporary Protected Status, advocates warn in a report by Atlanta public radio station WABE.

About one in four workers who provide direct patient care in the United States is an immigrant, according to the health policy group KFF. These workers help older people and people with disabilities with medical care, hygiene and daily errands.

“Georgia really can't afford to lose any more healthcare workers,” said Alexandra Audate, an Atlanta-area immigration attorney. She said Haitian workers filled many of these jobs. “We're seeing people in their 90s that are U.S. citizens who have no immigrant relatives now having to care about immigration because their caregiver is not coming anymore.”

Georgia has the fifth-largest Haitian population in the country, estimated at more than 42,000 people according to Census data. About 14,500 live in metro Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Haitians have been eligible for TPS since the 2010 earthquake, and the status was renewed over the years because of political unrest. The Trump administration ended it this summer.

Rebecca Shi, chief executive of the American Business Immigration Coalition, cited an AARP report that 59 million family caregivers already provide care equal to the work of 23.8 million full-time employees. Removing TPS workers, she said, will force more Americans to fill the gap themselves.