House Democrats have buried a huge amnesty for several million blue-collar illegal aliens in their coronavirus bailout bill, which also creates a new pipeline to pump foreign workers into U.S. healthcare jobs.
“They are going to make legal the hiring of illegal aliens — it is in the text on page 2030,” said John Miano, a lawyer with the Immigration Law Reform Institute, which opposes amnesty for illegal workers.
The 2,154-page bill says:
During the [healthcare emergency] period described in subsection (e), an alien described in subsection (d) shall be deemed to be in a period of deferred action and authorized for employment for purposes of section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Subsection D says the amnesty covers illegal aliens working in critical economic sectors:
(d) ALIENS DESCRIBED.—An alien is described in this subsection if the alien—
(1) on the date of the enactment of this title— A) is physically present in the United States; and (B) is inadmissible to, or deportable from, the United States; and
(2) engaged in essential critical infrastructure labor or services in the United States prior to the period described in subsection (e) and continues to engage in such labor or services during such period.
The obscure “deferred action” legal status was used in President Barack Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) work-permit giveaway.
Tom Jawetz, the pro-migration policy chief at the Center for American Progress, used a House hearing on September 23 to portray hard-working illegals as irreplaceable and heroes who are “serving us” in work that cannot be performed by Americans and their high-tech, labor-saving machines:
Of this number [of illegals in the United States], nearly 3 in 4—an estimated 5 million people—are doing jobs deemed essential to the nation’s critical infrastructure according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and International Security Agency’s (DHS CISA) latest guidance …
Jawatz’s written testimony continued:
Undocumented immigrants are performing essential jobs in many different sectors of the workforce. An estimated 389,000 are working as farmworkers and food processors securing the nation’s food supply, even as food processing plants became epicenters of the virus and agricultural areas are right now experiencing some of the nation’s highest concentrations of coronavirus outbreaks. … There are also an estimated 225,000 undocumented health care workers serving us and our loved ones as doctors, nurses, and home health aides, as well as an additional 190,000 undocumented individuals working not as health care providers but in necessary custodial and administrative roles to ensure health care settings remain safe and open. Millions of other undocumented immigrants are keeping grocery shelves stocked, packing warehouses, and cleaning and sanitizing businesses that have stayed open so we can remain home and the country can keep running.
But Americans — including white, Latino, and black Americans — comprise a majority of the workforce in nearly all jobs.
Americans and their machines do nearly all work in the United States, including almost all agricultural work, such as cotton-picking:
The rising wages for labor are also pressuring American farmers to hire Americans to harvest delicate crops — such as strawberries — and to improve meatpacking.
The Democrats’ “emergency supplemental appropriations” bill is titled “The Heroes Act.”
The legislation also allows employers to import many nurses and doctors to work in lower-wage staffing companies, even though many American nurses, doctors, and medical experts have been laid off during the coronavirus crash, even though many Americans are training to become healthcare workers.
Starting on page 2034, the bill offers fast-track green cards to foreign doctors, nurses, and scientists, including many who arrive on temporary H-1B, J-1, or O-1 visas, saying:
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall expedite the processing of applications and petitions seeking employment or classification of an alien as a nonimmigrant to practice medicine, provide healthcare, engage in medical research, or participate in a graduate medical edu8 cation or training program involving the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of COVID–19.
The Secretary of State shall prioritize the processing of applications submitted by aliens who are seeking a visa based on an approved nonimmigrant petition to practice medicine, provide healthcare, engage in medical research, or participate in a graduate medical education or training program involving the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of COVID–19.
The resulting flood of the compliant and cheap foreign worker will allow the executives in hospital chains to sideline American nurses and doctors, he said. Under the Democrats’ bill, executives “can go out there and say ‘I’m going to bring in a bunch of nurses and I’ll certify the [promised] wage based [on wage rates in] Tupelo, Mississippi,’ and then send them to [high-wage worksites in] New York or Silicon Valley.”
Wages for Americans in healthcare careers would be “totally undermined … That’s clearly what’s intended here,” he said, adding:
The purpose of this is to bypass the American labor market entirely and to turn the American labor market into a third-world labor market .. The people in management level are able to undermine higher wages in the professional class in America.
“What this bill tells you is that Wahington is totally controlled by lobbyists … They rule the roost,” said Miano. “Manipulation of immigration policy is one of the major reasons why we have all increases in wealth flowing to the extremely wealthy in this country.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.