Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) is on a mission to address immigration, proposing what she sees as meaningful reform that could solve the current quagmire over the contentious issue.
Salazar, a Republican whose family is from Cuba, told CBN News she believes many Americans are getting the issue wrong.
“You cannot deport every single illegal in the country, because … we don’t have the manpower to do that,” she said. “At the same time, those are hands that we need to grow the economy.”
But Salazar, who has a new book out on the issue, “Dignity Not Citizenship,” said the other side of the aisle is also off-base in that they want to “give [a] path to citizenship to everybody and let them make them be citizens even though they broke the law.”
The congresswoman said she believes there’s a third path that offers a balance — and “dignity.”
She proposed “The Dignity Act” earlier this year, a legislation she believes would help bring illegal individuals who have been in America for more than five years “out of the shadows.”
“I am not talking about giving those people who have been here for more than five years and do not have a criminal record any type of citizenship or amnesty,” Salazar said. “I’m offering them the dignity status, which … allows them to stay in the country, go home for Christmas, buy a home, pay $7,000 fines, pay 1% of their salary for the next seven years, and to be able to consume, and to live a dignified life in the promised land.”
She said this is a middle-of-the-road way of solving a “40-year problem” that neither side of the political aisle has been able to fix. Salazar said her faith was the impetus of her decision to try and tackle the issue.
“I am a born-again Christian,” she said. “I am a militant Christian. I believe that this is the right thing to do. It says that in the Bible over and over again — ‘Treat your neighbor as yourself.’”
She continued, “And do not necessarily give them citizenship, but treat them well, and if they have set roots in our communities, we should grant them some type of dignified life.”
Salazar said she’s not arguing that illegals should have access to federal programs, vote, or become Americans. Instead, she’s looking for a way to permit them to contribute and help out while also allowing them to come forward in a viable and legal way.
The congresswoman said it’s important to go after illegal immigrants who are criminals, but she said the current dynamic sometimes goes too far.
“I don’t agree that you have to kick out of the country someone who’s been here for 20 years, has three American children, that do not have a criminal record, has been picking up the jalapeno peppers in Southern California, or cleaning the toilets in Manhattan, or in the slaughterhouses, or in the dairies, milking the cows and contributing,” she said. “It’s true, they’re illegals. But the guy who gave him the job also broke the law. So then you start into this spiral that I would like to stop. So bring everyone out of the shadows, make them accountable, and give them dignity.”
Salazar also stressed the importance of the GOP garnering support from Hispanics, noting a failure to do so will cost Republicans elections.
Salazar also spent time decrying socialism and communism, explaining her own background to help frame why these systems disturb her.
“Socialism is Marxism and Marxism is communism,” she said. “We know because my parents are Cubans. I’m first-generation American, and I know exactly what that ideology does to you.”
Salazar continued, “It’s wonderful in theory; it’s miserable in practice.”
She went on to call communism an “ideology that is evil.”
“It’s nefarious, it’s cruel, it’s anti-Christian, and anti-American,” Salazar said. “So we in the GOP have to wake up and bring new votes to our base.”
Ultimately, Salazar said “we are the best country on earth” and encouraged Christians to take action to help bridge divides on immigration — one step that could help stop the spread of socialism.
“Hispanics are the fastest growing population in the United States,” she said. “We need to bring them to the GOP, and I’m doing all I can, and the Lord Almighty will be the one finishing this job, and I assure you that He will.”
Salazar also believes President Donald Trump will support her legislation.
“I’ve always told him, ‘Mr. President, the same God … the Most High who saved you from death in Pennsylvania is the one who will enlighten you, sir, to give dignity to those people,’” she said.
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