New company says no new remote workers

My company is in the beginning stages of post-acquisition life. My entire team was offered jobs in the new company that kept us together and created a new department in the acquiring company. Two of my team members decided not to accept their job offers. These two people were remote. I am remote along with 50% of the team I manage. During the acquisition process, we were told that everyone who was remote would remain remote and no move to the office would be required.

I had a meeting this past week to finalize job descriptions to replace these two people on my team, when our HR rep dropped the bomb that the acquiring company said these positions need to work onsite despite these roles not being onsite previously. These are very niche positions with specialized skills required and the company is based in a smaller city in the Midwest US, so not the best place to search for niche or specialized talent. I immediately said that we would not find the talent we want or need in that city. The last time we hired for this role, it was a nationwide search and took 5 months. Narrowing it down to this city or only people willing to move to this city will be incredibly difficult, and we can’t wait 5 months to replace one of these two people.

So I am trying to figure out how to go to my leadership (who transitioned from my old company and supported remote work) to call out, less emotionally, this BS and point out the monumental task being put in front of me, the unlikelihood of hiring these people onsite, and the massive pressure this would put on remaining personnel while we want to hire.

I’m also trying to figure out what my future at this new company looks like, such as if they’re going to tell me that any promotion would require me to move to a city I have zero desire to live in, no matter how much I enjoy working for the company. I’m not in a bad or undesirable role right now, but it’s not the role I want to hold for the next 30 years until I retire. Right now, it seems very likely that my next role will be at a different company, which sucks because I have loved my job these past few years.