Michelle Garcia relies on a wheelchair and has long turned to immigrant workers she finds through an informal network to help her with bathing and light housework. But in recent months, she has sometimes gone two- to three-week stretches without any help.

She began struggling to find care this year, as news spread of federal agents arresting immigrants in Chicago. One fearful woman who had worked for Garcia at her Chicago home called one day to say that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were on her block.

“I told her, ‘You don’t have to come. Do what’s best for you,’” says Garcia, 48, who has cerebral palsy.

Losing the help has meant that Garcia, who even sleeps in her motorized wheelchair, has gone weeks without a shower. She needs someone to help her move to a shower cha

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