Rafi Feuerstein

Who are Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Heroes? Based on the $3 trillion HEROES Act that House Democrats have just unveiled, the answer is illegal aliens and criminals. While the HEROES Act pretends to be about coronavirus relief, its focus is on immigration. With over 20 million jobs lost in April, the HEROES Act goes to great lengths to make sure that millions of illegal aliens will still be able to keep their jobs, no matter how many Americans lose theirs. Buried under the misleadingly titled , "Protections for Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers", is a virtual blank check to keep illegal aliens from being deported. The HEROES Act's definition of "critical infrastructure workers" covers cafeteria workers, warehouse janitors, and pet food delivery boys. Anyone who works in virtually any field involving food in any way is a "critical infrastructure worker". An illegal alien putting out mouse traps at any facility involving food from "wholesale to retail" is a critical worker. A vast array of call center workers and delivery people are covered. Even laundromat employees are critical infrastructure workers under the federal definition used by the HEROES Act. The HEROES Act doesn't just protect illegal aliens from deportation, but SEC. 191203 declares that "hiring" illegal aliens is not a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act and that the aliens are "deemed to be in a period of deferred action and authorized for employment." Americans seeking jobs as essential workers will be forced to compete with newly legalized illegal aliens. Even while tens of millions of Americans are out of work, Pelosi and the House Democrats are going to great lengths to protect the ability of employers to illegally hire illegal aliens while authorizing them to accept those jobs. And considering how Federal judges have defended DACA’s deferred action, this temporary deferral could effectively become a permanent amnesty for millions of illegals. The HEROES Act is really a backdoor amnesty that will declare illegal aliens “heroes” for delivering pizza. And these heroes who delivered pizza and sprayed for roaches in a plant somewhere can’t be deported. Instead, they’re going to be honored and legalized while Americans lose their jobs, savings, and lives. The HEROES Act may end up killing more Americans of employment age than the coronavirus will. Pelosi’s boondoggle also extends visas for aliens already in this country, regardless of whether they're "critical" workers or not, and 'rolls over' all the visas that weren't issued during this time. The Democrats are determined not to miss a single chance to bring more of their voters into the United States. The rollover provisions focus on chain migration via "family-sponsored immigrants", "employment-based immigrants" and "diversity immigrants". All of these are aspects of a broken immigration system. SEC. 191204 or “Supplementing the COVID Response Workforce” expedites processing applications for aliens who "provide healthcare" within 30 days by email. Visa applications can be bypassed with video-conferencing, and interviews are waived, even though the shortage of personnel that is driving this strategy has never actually come into being and American workers are being furloughed at hospitals that were prevented from performing most procedures. And how do Pelosi and her ilk define "low-risk"? Any criminal who "does not pose a risk of serious, imminent injury to a reasonably identifiable person". There are an estimated 1.4 million American health care workers out of work. Maybe the Democrats could prioritize finding them jobs first? American health care workers furloughed because of the lockdown may end up losing their jobs because the Democrats who praise them as “heroes” insist on bringing in foreign workers to take their place. And these foreign health care workers are being brought in under the broad umbrella of “preventing COVID-19”. If we didn’t have open borders on the ground and in the air, there wouldn’t have been a Wuhan Virus to prevent. But even while claiming to fight a pandemic caused by a foreign virus, Pelosi and the Democrats want more immigration and more open borders to spread more pandemics. SEC. 191205 seeks to free illegal aliens already in ICE custody with a review of "the immigration files of all individuals in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assess the need for continued detention" to free those who are "not subject to mandatory detention laws." The section also demands that illegal aliens get free video chats, email access, and orders that pro-illegal alien lefty groups be given "broad and flexible access" to illegals. But the HEROES Act doesn’t just settle for freeing illegal aliens, not when it can also free criminals. The Dem bill seeks to free "vulnerable and low-risk individuals" in pre-trial detention. The definition of "vulnerable" is any prisoner over who is over 50 or under 18 who has, sickle-cell anemia, or asthma. And how do Pelosi and her ilk define "low-risk"? Any criminal who "does not pose a risk of serious, imminent injury to a reasonably identifiable person". That covers criminals who pose a risk of serious, imminent injury to any random member of the public. Criminals who pose a risk of serious, but not imminent injury, criminals who pose a risk of imminent, but not serious injury, and criminals who pose a serious, imminent risk of injury to someone who can’t be reasonably identified, could all be considered “low-risk” by the jailbreaking HEROES Act. Under these parameters, an asthmatic serial killer ought to be considered low-risk because we can’t identify whom he might chop to bits. A paranoid schizophrenic who only seriously assaults people when he goes off his medication could be considered to pose a risk of serious, but not imminent injury. And, of course, muggers who don’t seriously hurt their victims would be considered low-risk. Ditto for car thieves, burglars, assorted robbers, and any felon who isn’t walking around with a sign reading, “I will kill Andrew next Tuesday”. And even then, we might not be “reasonably” sure which Andrew he means. These are the heroes of Pelosi’s HEROES Act. There's also money for "safe and sanitary temporary transitional housing" and facilitating "family reunification" for the released criminals. And a push for applying "all pre- and post-adjudication release processes and mechanisms applicable to juveniles… as quickly as possible". That would cover 17-year-old offenders. Pelosi and her Democrat allies claim to be very concerned about inmates in custody contracting the coronavirus. And yet after months of this, the predicted mass death tolls in prisons haven’t happened. Instead the elderly have been dying in large numbers in nursing homes. If the Democrats were really concerned, they would cut off funding to any municipality arresting people over social distancing. But the Dems seem happy with a state of affairs in which citizens are arrested and criminals are freed. The HEROES Act contains plenty that is bad, including a waiver of the Buy American Act that is a free gift to the People’s Republic of China, but its obsession with criminals and illegal aliens, at the expense of Americans, shows who Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats think that they’re really in office to serve. While Americans are put out of work, the Democrats help illegal aliens hang on to their jobs. And while Americans are locked up for trying to cut hair, go for a walk, or play catch, criminals are set free. The Democrat coronatopia is a place where criminals are free and everyone else is in prison, and where only government officials and illegal aliens have jobs. Daniel Greenfield is a conservative columnist and investigative reporter. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine at the above link .