Although she does not have express support from the leadership of her party in Congress, the Republican congresswoman from Florida, María Elvira Salazar, asked for bipartisan support for the so-called “Dignity Law” project, through which legal residence would be granted to millions of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record, but who help pay for border security.
There are three aspects that the congresswoman highlights about her proposal:
1. Grant protection to undocumented immigrants, who must pay $1, 000 annually during 10 years before having access to a trial immigration benefit for five years.
two. Seal the southern border, using part of the funds paid by undocumented immigrants.
3. Provide labor for agriculture, construction, manufacturing and other industries.
“The project that I presented to the United States Congress this week is called the ‘Dignity Law’ and achieves three things: Seal the southern border once and for all against drug traffickers , child traffickers and ruthless coyotes,” said Salazar.
He stressed that he would help immigrants without papers to stay in the United States “get out of the shadows”.
“It also offers to live in dignity to those immigrants among us who have been in the shadows for years, but have contributed to the well-being of our country ”, added the congresswoman who represents the district 60 of Florida.
The third aspect that contemplates the program is to help “that entrepreneurial class, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, many other industries that need now more than ever a reliable and growing workforce to show up for work every day.”
“If the world’s largest economy, such as this country’s, does not grow exponentially, the ‘American dream’ for future generations is dead,” he predicted.
In a video published this week on her social networks, Salazar, of Cuban origin, presents herself as “the product of that ‘American dream.'”
The congresswoman He recalled that his parents fled Cuba 60 years ago “with five dollars in their pocket and, thanks to the exceptional North American system,” they managed to leave forward and it went very well.
If passed, this bill would allow undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for at least five years to stay in the country and work legally, if they meet certain requirements.
Participants in the program would have to pass a criminal background check, pay back taxes, and start paying others on rent based on what s new salaries.
In addition, they must pay the federal government $10,000 dollars in restitution within a period of 10 years –$1,10 dollars each year– for having entered illegally into the country.
According to The congresswoman detailed today, to definitively achieve US citizenship, those who apply will have to spend another five years in the second phase of the program, called “Redemption”.
That means, she pointed out, that “if want to become an American, spend another five years learning English, learning about history, and helping the community.”
Old technology on the border
Regarding border security, he indicated that “we must seal the border with better financing, better tools, better policies and better salaries.”
“I don’t know if you You know that some of the equipment used by the Border Patrol is from the Vietnam era; that’s a shame, that’s why they need latest technology: infrared cameras, radar, drones, autonomous technology 24 hours and seven days a week to block communication between the coyotes”, he detailed.
Each applicant of the “Dignity” plan will benefit two American workers in training courses, according to the bill of more than 400 pages that began to be outlined when Salazar arrived in Congress a year ago.
As he clarified, the project “It combines many other pieces of other immigration legislation that have already been approved with bipartisan support in previous congresses; therefore -he stated- it should have the support of both parties”.
However, the president of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress, the representative for California Raúl Ruiz, does not see it with good eyes.
“ Any of the other legislative proposals that claim to help our communities, but penalize them with unpayable fines or building a harmful wall, are not adequate and are nothing more than politicking,” Ruiz refuted in a statement quoted by CNN.
According to a report by 2020 of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has remained relatively stable , between 10.5 million and 12 million people since the Great Recession of 2007-2009, but the origin of this population has become more diverse.
“My dream is to give you the opportunity to come out of the shadows,” Salazar assured, putting the security of the southern border first.
With information from EFE