Senior citizens join the immigration fight to protect caregivers
S. Capitol on April 28, 2026, to advocate for Temporary Protected Status for immigrant caretakers.
Andrea Hsu/NPR
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Andrea Hsu/NPR
At 82, Rita Seibenaler has jumped into the fight over immigration.
The granddaughter of Irish immigrants, Seibenaler has long felt those who come to the U.S. in search of a better life deserve a chance, too.
"This is a way of paying back for that gift," she says.
She's seen their hard work up close. Seibenaler lives in an independent living facility in northern Virginia, part of the faith-based nonprofit Goodwin Living. Her late husband, a Russia specialist with the Army, spent his final days in the Alzheimer's unit next door.
"He had caretakers from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Haiti," she says. "And they gave him tender loving care."
Among the team, she says, were individuals with Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a special designation granted to immigrants already in the U.S. whose home countries the federal government deems unsafe to return to. People with TPS can stay and work in the country, but it is not a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship.
Now, as the Supreme Court considers a case with potential consequences for the more than 1 million TPS holders whose status the Trump administration has terminated or attempted to terminate, Seibenaler has found her voice.
At 82, Rita Seibenaler, center, has been speaking out about the need for immigrant workers, including caregivers with Temporary Protected Status.
Andrea Hsu/NPR
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Andrea Hsu/NPR
On a rainy morning outside the U.S. Capitol this week, she spoke of the inevitable.
"As you age, in spite of your good habits, your bodies fail," Siebenaler said, flanked by a couple dozen seniors in raincoats and ponchos, a few with their rolling walkers. "Some assistance, of course, comes from families. But often that assistance comes from the caretakers."
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