South Florida immigrants, healthcare workers protest Medicaid cuts under Trump's new law
By Sergio R. Bustos
July 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM EDT
Healthcare workers, immigrants, and union members are calling out the Trump administration and Congress approving the new tax and spending law they say gives billionaires “even bigger tax cuts” and whose cuts to Medicaid will hurt Jackson Memorial, one of the nation’s largest public hospitals.
The groups rallied Saturday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami to protest what they’re calling the “Big Ugly Bill” — President Donald Trump’s sweeping federal spending measure they say slashes critical services for low-income residents while enriching the ultra-wealthy.
The protest is part of a nationwide Day of Action — the “Families First” campaign — organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), along with local affiliated unions and the Committee of Interns and Residents.
“We’re here because they’re endangering our lives and communities to give billionaires even bigger tax cuts,” said Coy Jones, political director for 1199SEIU, the largest union of healthcare workers in Florida. “Our membership of caregivers is especially appalled that essential care for children and seniors will be devastated, so our union is fighting back for a future where families come first.”
Trump signed the bill into law on July 4. It extended current tax rates for individuals that were set to expire at the end of this year. Republicans say the bill is critical to ensure most Americans didn't experience a significant tax increase next year.
READ MORE: What’s in the tax and spending bill that Trump has signed into law
The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of an earlier House version of the bill.
The CBO said the Medicaid and food assistance cuts will leave more than 10 million people uninsured by 2034 because it includes new work requirements for certain Medicaid beneficiaries in states that expanded the program through the Affordable Care Act.
Organizers of Saturday’s protest in Miami decried the new law, saying the changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will be “devastating” to tens of thousands of Miami-Dade residents who will lose their healthcare insurance.
“These cuts are cruel and unnecessary and will hurt our most vulnerable,” said Martha Baker, RN, president of SEIU Florida and SEIU Local 1991. “The way to improve healthcare outcomes and decrease costs is to increase access, not reduce it.”
Protest organizers are also blasting the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport immigrants who are in the country with temporary visas.
The administration has pushed to remove temporary protected status from people from seven countries, with Venezuela and Haiti making up the biggest chunk of the hundreds of thousands of people losing their protections.
María Elena Hernández, a 32BJ SEIU executive board member and plaintiff in a federal lawsuit to protect Temporary Protected Status. (916x812, AR: 1.1280788177339902)
María Elena Hernández, a 32BJ SEIU executive board member and plaintiff in a federal lawsuit to protect Temporary Protected Status, TPS, said the administration policies tearing immigrant families apart are “inhumane.”
“For 25 years I’ve worked as a university janitor, paid my taxes, yet I’m now told to leave my only brother,” she said in a statement announcing Saturday’s protest. She is Nicaraguan.
The groups rallied Saturday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami to protest what they’re calling the “Big Ugly Bill” — President Donald Trump’s sweeping federal spending measure they say slashes critical services for low-income residents while enriching the ultra-wealthy.
The protest is part of a nationwide Day of Action — the “Families First” campaign — organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), along with local affiliated unions and the Committee of Interns and Residents.
“We’re here because they’re endangering our lives and communities to give billionaires even bigger tax cuts,” said Coy Jones, political director for 1199SEIU, the largest union of healthcare workers in Florida. “Our membership of caregivers is especially appalled that essential care for children and seniors will be devastated, so our union is fighting back for a future where families come first.”
Trump signed the bill into law on July 4. It extended current tax rates for individuals that were set to expire at the end of this year. Republicans say the bill is critical to ensure most Americans didn't experience a significant tax increase next year.
READ MORE: What’s in the tax and spending bill that Trump has signed into law
The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of an earlier House version of the bill.
The CBO said the Medicaid and food assistance cuts will leave more than 10 million people uninsured by 2034 because it includes new work requirements for certain Medicaid beneficiaries in states that expanded the program through the Affordable Care Act.
Organizers of Saturday’s protest in Miami decried the new law, saying the changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will be “devastating” to tens of thousands of Miami-Dade residents who will lose their healthcare insurance.
“These cuts are cruel and unnecessary and will hurt our most vulnerable,” said Martha Baker, RN, president of SEIU Florida and SEIU Local 1991. “The way to improve healthcare outcomes and decrease costs is to increase access, not reduce it.”
Protest organizers are also blasting the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport immigrants who are in the country with temporary visas.
The administration has pushed to remove temporary protected status from people from seven countries, with Venezuela and Haiti making up the biggest chunk of the hundreds of thousands of people losing their protections.
María Elena Hernández, a 32BJ SEIU executive board member and plaintiff in a federal lawsuit to protect Temporary Protected Status. (916x812, AR: 1.1280788177339902)
María Elena Hernández, a 32BJ SEIU executive board member and plaintiff in a federal lawsuit to protect Temporary Protected Status, TPS, said the administration policies tearing immigrant families apart are “inhumane.”
“For 25 years I’ve worked as a university janitor, paid my taxes, yet I’m now told to leave my only brother,” she said in a statement announcing Saturday’s protest. She is Nicaraguan.