FAIR Leads Effort to Block Amnesty and Illegal Alien Giveaways in House Stimulus Bill

FAIR Newsletter | Article 1 of 5 | June 2020 | Visit Our Newsletter Page | Full PDF Version

FAIR Leads Effort to Block Amnesty and Illegal Alien Giveaways in House Stimulus Bill

The next — and by far the most expensive – economic stimulus bill in Congress had less to do with stimulating the moribund economy and everything to do with stimulating the Democratic Party’s far left base in an election year. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES Act), H.R. 6800, the $3 trillion government spending package also checked just about every box on the far left’s wish list, most of which had nothing to do with reviving the economy and getting laid-off Americans back to work. And since there is nothing higher on the far left wish list than mass immigration and an end to any meaningful immigration enforcement, the 1,800-page bill was laden with amnesty provisions for illegal aliens and taxpayer benefits to assist illegal aliens.

The HEROES Act was cooked up by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a small cadre of lieutenants while Congress was out of session due to the coronavirus pandemic and all but a handful of members were at home social distancing. As is often the case when congressional leadership doesn’t want the American people to know what’s in a bill, or even many of their own members, it was hastily brought to the floor of the House for a vote before anyone could possibly read through it thoroughly, or really figure out how $3 trillion of borrowed money would be spent.

It was approved by the full House by a vote of 208- 199 on May 15. Fourteen Democratic members voted against the bill — 13 representing “purple” swing districts and one far left member representing Seattle. Only one Republican, Peter King from Long Island, New York, supported the measure.

Fortunately, FAIR’s Government Relations team was able to get its hands on advanced drafts of the provisions of H.R. 6800 that pertained to immigration. What they found was an appalling effort on the part of Pelosi and her allies to use legislation meant to address a national health and economic crisis to make sweeping (and unpopular) changes to immigration law:

• De facto amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. Illegal aliens deemed to be working in “essential” jobs- broadly defined to include not just those in frontline health care jobs, but also in food, agriculture, construction, and other trades — would receive deferment from removal. Their employers would similarly be indemnified from their violations of laws prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens. The bill establishes no sunset for these deferments (because, most likely, there wouldn’t be one), and almost certainly would protect family members who are also illegally present.
  
   
• Release of nearly all illegal aliens in detention. With exception of aliens who have been convicted of serious felonies, all deportable aliens in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody would be released into the United States. 
  

  

• Stimulus payments to illegal aliens. People who file tax returns using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) would be eligible for direct government stimulus checks. Most illegal aliens who file tax returns do so using ITINs. To correct what the bill’s authors see as an injustice, The Heroes Act would also provide retroactive payments to ITIN filers who were not eligible for stimulus checks under the CARES Act that was enacted in March.
  
   
• Increases legal immigration at a time of record unemployment. As of mid-May, when the bill was rolled out, some 36 million Americans had lost jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, The Heroes Act would allow unused visas for the current year to be rolled over for use in future years. It would also grant permanent residence to foreign physicians working here temporarily, whether or not they are working to fight the coronavirus.
  
   
• Protects sanctuary jurisdictions. The bill ensures that sanctuary jurisdictions that violate federal law by protecting illegal aliens and impeding federal immigration law enforcement efforts will be eligible to receive all federal stimulus money.

FAIR IN ACTION

In response to this information, FAIR sprung into action to make sure that allies on the Hill, our members, and the general public were aware of these harmful and shameful provisions of H.R. 6800.

• FAIR’s Government Relations team provided advance warning of these provisions to members of Congress who were being kept in the dark by Pelosi and the Democratic House leadership.
  
   
• FAIR’s Media department disseminated this information to reporters and talk radio hosts around the country.
  
   
• FAIR used its social media outlets (which have millions of followers) to provide an even wider public audience information about what was in the bill. FAIR sent emails to some 300,000 online subscribers asking them to contact their members of Congress to protest this massive immigration giveaway that further undermines our growing ranks of the unemployed.
  
   
• Senior FAIR staff participated in a Facebook Live discussion to discuss the harmful effects that the bill would have on the nation.

Thankfully, The HEROES Act was little more than a crass political stunt aimed at shoring up the Democratic Party’s far left flank. (Polls indicated that some 80 percent of Americans, including a majority of rank and file Democratic voters support a temporary cessation of immigration during the current crisis.) The bill stands almost no chance of being considered in the Senate, much less passed, and even less chance of being signed by President Trump if it were approved. What is significant is how far the Democratic leadership is prepared to go to advance the interests of illegal aliens (and their own perceived political interests) at the expense of Americans who have been devastated by the current health and economic crises.