{"id":24663,"date":"2021-06-22T12:21:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=24663"},"modified":"2021-06-22T12:21:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:21:47","slug":"essential-workers-infrastruct-bill-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2021\/06\/22\/essential-workers-infrastruct-bill-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Infrastructure Bill Builds a Bridge to Amnesty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Are illegal aliens \u201cessential\u201d?\nBackers of the massive $6\ntrillion infrastructure package<\/a> in Congress think so, and they\u2019re\nlaying the foundation for a wide-ranging amnesty scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Citing dubious claims that 74 percent<\/a> of people illegally in this country are essential workers, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, hyperbolically declares: \u201cThe United States government deems these immigrants essential for keeping our country running and keeping Americans alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As FAIR<\/a> pointed out last December, illegal aliens make up barely 2 percent of the healthcare workforce in this country. But government statisticians<\/a> stretch the essential-worker ranks by defining a \u201cfrontline\u201d employee as anyone<\/em> who does not have the ability to work from home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using those generous\nparameters, a Ukrainian stripper who overstays her tourist visa to ply her\ntrade at a Hollywood nightclub could qualify as essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The widening classification\nof essential activity has become so broad as to lose all meaning. Thus, the\npro-immigration Migration Policy Institute counts an estimated 1.4 million\nillegal aliens in the retail and food service sectors as \u201cessential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While amnesty peddlers like Padilla contend that America\u2019s economy would grind to a halt without illegal aliens, the highest job opening rates<\/a> are in two quintessentially non-essential segments: arts\/entertainment\/recreation, including traveling carnivals (11.6 percent), and leisure\/hospitality (10.1 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n