Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, is a freshman GOP Congresswoman from Florida. Before entering politics, she worked as a broadcaster for Miami-based Mega TV, CNN, Univision, and Telemundo. Now, along with six Republican colleagues, she has introduced a new amnesty plan for illegal aliens. The plan was dubbed, for short, the Dignity Act, but through a bit of tortured syntax, the full title manages to spell out the Spanish translation of “dignity”: Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act.’’ The DIGNIDAD Act, get it?
The description of this rose-by-any-other-name bill starts off, as these Republican-sponsored amnesty plans always do, with a heavy emphasis on bringing illegal immigration under control, in this case actually ending it “once and for all” [emphasis added below]:
Dignity does 3 primary things:
• Ends illegal immigration once and for all.
• Gives Dignity to people living in the shadows.
• Protects in American Workers and saves American industries.
Ending-it-once-and-for-all includes the usual promises of building barriers, hiring more agents, using technology, setting tougher penalties, etc, etc. But all that is just to suck you in. You’ll notice she didn’t call it the “End Illegal Immigration Once and for All Act.” Borrowing a little leftist cant, it’s the Dignity/Dignidad Act, and that’s where the meat is.
The law would:
- Give immediate permanent resident status to the 1.5 to 3.5 million “dreamers” in the DACA program.
- Give all other illegals–up to 20 million of them–10-year work visas. To be eligible, the illegals would have to pass a criminal background check and pay a fine.
- After 10 years, they could enter another, 5-year program leading to full citizenship. Requirements for that program include paying additional fines and conducting community service. (Amusingly, they would also need to take a “civics course”! Has Rep. Salazar looked into what’s being taught in civics courses these days? In 10 years, any civics course would likely transform the average illegal who made it that far into a bomb-throwing BLM anarchist!)
- Expand the H-2A and H-2B visa programs that yearly bring in thousands of foreign visa workers to take blue-collar agricultural and nonagricultural American jobs.
Salazar was joined in introducing the bill by Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), John Curtis (R-UT), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR), Tom Reed (R-NY), and Peter Meijer (R-MI), virtually all of whom have been the beneficiaries of U.S. Chamber of Commerce largesse.
The Chamber, of course, gave its whole-hearted approval. Executive Vice-President Neil Bradley said in a statement, “We look forward to working with [Salazar] and her colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass these commonsense reforms to our nation’s broken immigration system.”
Also approving was the Niskanen Center, a pro-immigration, libertarian lobbyist organization heavily financed by, among others, the uber-left Kellogg Foundation (discussed here last week). Niskanen spokesperson Kristie De Peña said, “For the first time in a very long time, we have a bill that prioritizes the needs of immigrants and Americans alike. It also earnestly addresses the concerns that both Republicans and Democrats have on so many divisive issues.”
Mostly what the bill actually does is pander to the big business, cheap-labor lobby and to the benighted Republican never-Trumper set that think they can outbid the Democrats in securing the Latino vote. In fact, Salazar, identifying herself as a “brown girl from the hood,” told Fox News the bill was an “invitation letter for the Browns, the Hispanics, the Latinos … welcoming them into the Republican Party…”
It’s an invitation all right, but not the kind Rep. Salazar imagines. As NumbersUSA’s Rosemary Jenks said, “It’s amazing how out of step Rep. Maria Salazar is with the Republican Party, and certainly the Republican base. We are in the middle of a historic border surge, and her response is to propose the largest amnesty in history. This is an unserious proposal by unserious people.”
Salazar admitted that her bill represents the first time a freshman member has proposed comprehensive immigration reforms “on her own and without the help of a committee.” Given that last month House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that, if Republicans retake the House this year, they will not consider any amnesty plans, maybe she should accept a little help next time.
For more, see Breitbart News.