Pelosi, an avowed liberal-left Democrat from San Francisco, condemned operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Then she called the illegal aliens in the audience she was addressing "very, very patriotic."
"Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?" Pelosi said to a mostly Hispanic gathering at St. Anthony's Church in San Francisco.
Unbeknownst to Pelosi, her speech was being taperecorded and the audiotape was played by syndicated talk show host Mark Levin on Wednesday night and Fox News Channel on Thursday morning.
Speaker Pelosi is then heard saying, "It must be stopped....What value system is that? I think it's un-American. I think it's un-American."
Pelosi told the few reporters covering this story that she was invited to speak to the Latino congregation by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) as part of a national tour called United Families, which he says is "intended to put a human face on the immigration debate."
Congressman Gutierrez, who in the past called ICE agents and Border Patrol agents "Gestpo," is currently collecting signatures for a petition that demands President Barack Obama to "stop the immigration raids and deportations that are tearing our marriages, families and children apart."
He told reporters that he's expected to present those petitions when Hispanic members of Congress meet with the President next Wednesday.
Referring to work site enforcement actions by ICE agents, Pelosi said, "We have to have a change in policy and practice and again ... I can't say enough, the raids must end. The raids must end.
"You are special people. You're here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country's future. That makes you very, very patriotic," she's quoted as saying during her church speech.
"This is outrageous that one of the most powerful government officials would call the action of sworn law-enforcement officers' actions 'Un-American.' If anyone is Un-American here, it's Nancy Pelosi!" exclaimed an angry former-NYPD detective, Sydney Frances.
"This is par for the course with these left-wing politicians: cops are the bad guys and criminals are patriotic," he added.
"This is classic Stalinist behavior: change the meaning of the term Un-American. It now means any patriot who wants US immigration laws enforced is Un-American, while lawbreakers are called patriots. It's newspeak at its worst," said political strategist Mike Baker.