Fact check: House bill would only temporarily protect essential workers in U.S. illegally
The claim: HEROES Act would grant workers in the U.S. illegally amnesty
Democrats introduced the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, known as the HEROES Act, on May 12. The $3 trillion bill proposes increasing unemployment aid, food stamps and small business emergency grants through the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downfall that has followed.
Many Republicans said the bill came too soon after the $2.4 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and would unnecessarily add to the national debt.
The bill, which narrowly passed in the House on May 15, is likely to fail in the Senate. President Donald Trump said May 13 that the HEROES Act was “dead on arrival.”
Groups seeking tighter immigration restrictions have criticized the HEROES Act for its Title XII, which includes temporary immigration measures.
The bill would allow workers who are in the country illegally and working in jobs the local government deems “essential critical infrastructure” to pursue protections that expire 90 days after the public health emergency terminates.
NumbersUSA, a nonprofit research and education foundation that advocates “for lower immigration levels,” published an article titled “House Passes Legislation to Grant Amnesty & Stimulus Checks to Illegal Aliens” on May 16.
“House Democrats' prioritizing of foreign workers, legal and illegal, over unemployed and underemployed Americans in the middle of a crisis is shameful,” NumbersUSA president and founder Roy Beck said in a statement. “Instead of focusing on helping 33 million unemployed Americans get back to work, the so-called Heroes Act uses the COVID-19 pandemic to give amnesty — and cash payments — to illegal aliens working in the United States."
NumbersUSA's use of the term "amnesty" in the article is misleading. The HEROES Act would only temporarily protect certain immigrant workers.
HEROES Act temporarily protects essential workers
The HEROES Act would protect workers in the U.S. illegally in industries local government deemed essential critical infrastructure and their employers. These workers would be shielded from deportation and eligible for federal stimulus funds, for which they are ineligible under the coronavirus relief package.
The bill's protections, which would expire 90 days after the public health emergency ends, would be available only for essential workers who are already in the USA, though illegally.
The bill defines “essential critical infrastructure labor or services" based on the Department of Homeland Security’s April 17 memo: “The industries they support represent, but are not limited to, medical and healthcare, telecommunications, information technology systems, defense, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, law enforcement, and public works.”
The DHS memo is intended as guidance to help jurisdictions decide which industries must continue operating to ensure critical functions in their localities.
Defining 'amnesty'
NumbersUSA Deputy Director Chris Chmielenski told USA TODAY that NumbersUSA is aware that its use of "amnesty" differs from other definitions.
"While many tend to define amnesty as providing a path to citizenship, NumbersUSA defines amnesty as allowing individuals who are illegally present to stay and work in the U.S.," Chmielenski said. "Since most people come to the country illegally to work in the first place, authorizing them to work is a reward for their illegal presence."
Chmielenski said NumbersUSA considers the HEROES Act policy amnesty even though it is only temporary.
"The HEROES Act authorizes individuals illegally present and working in certain occupations to stay and work for a period of time, therefore we consider it an amnesty," he said.
Its website further states its definition of amnesty: "NumbersUSA defines any attempt by the federal government to offer legal presence and work permits to a group of illegal aliens an amnesty."
That differs from traditional definitions of "amnesty."
Yale Law School reports Black's Law Dictionary is the most frequently used U.S. legal dictionary. It defines amnesty as "a pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually for a political offense" and "the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted."
In its definition of "pardon," Black's looks at "pardon" versus "amnesty" and further states: "(Amnesty) denotes an act of grace, extended by the government to all persons who may come within its terms, and which obliterates the criminality of past acts done, and declares that they shall not be treated as punishable."
The Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School defines "amnesty" as a pardon for violating immigration policy that leads to permanent residency and lawful employment. "Immigration amnesty would include the government forgiving individuals for using false documentation to gain employment in the U.S. and to remain in the country, and would allow illegal immigrants or undocumented aliens to gain permanent residency in the United States," the Legal Information Institute says.
"The forgetting is total and absolute, not merely the resolution of a charge but its legal effacement," Yale Law School professor Muneer Ahmad wrote in his 2017 paper for Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
By traditional definitions, the HEROES Act does not grant amnesty because it does not allow immigrant workers here illegally to stay permanently in the country and does not pardon them from future penalties.
However, immigration politics has made amnesty a loaded word.
The Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank that supports open borders, says opponents of immigration reform have been incorrectly labeling policies "amnesties" for years.
"In common terminology, an amnesty is a general forgiveness for past offenses," the Cato Institute wrote in 2013. "Calling immigration reform amnesty brands it with a scarlet letter in the minds of many who are skeptical of reform."
Our ruling: Partly false
We rate the claim that House Resolution 6800, known as the HEROES Act, would grant amnesty to individuals in the country illegally as PARTLY FALSE because some of it was not supported by our research. In particular, It is true that the bill contains some protection for essential workers in the country illegally, but it is misleading to call that protection simply "amnesty." The HEROES Act would only temporarily grant protection to certain workers, rather than a pardon for violations, permanent residence and employment, as the NumbersUSA article suggests.
Our fact check sources:
NumbersUSA "House Bill Would Grant Amnesty to Illegal Aliens"
Department of Homeland Security, Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce
Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Azar Declares Public Health Emergency for United States
Legal Information Institute, Wex Legal Dictionary, "Amnesty"
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Bill temporarily protects essential immigrant workers
