FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, September 11, 2025
CONTACT: Daniela Perez, [email protected]
New York, NY — This week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that will allow racial profiling and grant Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) broader powers to detain individuals based on the color of their skin or the language they speak. The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), representing the 2.2 million domestic workers who care for our children, aging and disabled loved ones, and homes, condemns this ruling.
Domestic workers make it possible for millions of working families to participate in our economy, ensuring that our homes and families are in good hands. They are twice as likely as other U.S. workers to have been born outside of the United States and are majority Black women and women of color. SCOTUS’ ruling increases the risk that these essential workers will be subject to more surveillance, harassment, raids and human rights abuses: not for any crime, but simply for being who they are. The creation of these hostile living and working conditions is a threat not only to the workers and their families, but to our ability to access care for our families in America.
Ai-jen Poo, President, and Jenn Stowe, Executive Director, released the following statement:
“Any ruling that allows the arrest of people based on the color of their skin, where they work, and how they speak, is full-blown racism, designed to terrorize communities of color. By permitting ICE to target people by the work they do, this ruling effectively punishes low-wage workers simply for trying to earn a living — opening the door to raids at homes, care centers, construction sites, farms, and other job sites where essential work is happening. No one should live or work in fear.
This decision comes on the heels of the Big Betrayal Bill, which guts Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion and strips healthcare from millions of Americans, while funneling billions into violent immigration enforcement and tax breaks for billionaires. Taken together, these actions destabilize the care economy and the families who rely on it. Care workers, already facing low wages, a rollback of their rights, and a crisis-level shortage, are being pushed further into precarity by policies that undermine both their ability to provide essential care and their ability to live safely as neighbors, parents, and community members.
An attack on immigrants and people of color is an attack on our economy and our well-being as a nation. When any community is dehumanized, everyone’s rights are at risk. Domestic workers make all other work possible. Undermining their safety and well-being undermines the stability of families in every corner of this country. These cruel policies are meant to divide us, but we will continue to come together. Our power lies in unity. Together, we will continue to fight for a future where every family has access to safety, healthcare, and care. Not fear, discrimination, and injustice.”
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National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the leading voice for dignity and fairness for millions of domestic workers in the United States. Founded in 2007, NDWA works for respect, recognition and inclusion in labor protections for domestic workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and women of color. NDWA is powered by over 70 affiliate organizations and local chapters and by a growing membership base of nannies, house cleaners and care workers in over 20 states. Learn more at www.domesticworkers.org. NDWA is a non-partisan non-profit organization that does not endorse, support, or oppose any candidates for public office.
