After clashing with Tucker Carlson on Fox News last week, U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., tried to rally support for her “Dignity Act,” which she has called “a complete immigration reform bill consisting of three core principles: stopping illegal immigration, providing a dignified solution for immigrants living in America, and strengthening the American workforce and economy.”
Salazar introduced the proposal last month.
“Our broken immigration system is fracturing America — economically, morally, socially, and politically. It’s threatening the American Dream and our very way of life,” said Salazar when she unveiled the bill. “Today, I am introducing the Dignity Act to secure our border, provide a dignified solution to immigrants in the United States, and support American workers. While we are a nation of laws, we are also a nation of second chances. I’m grateful to my colleagues for joining me to keep the American Dream alive.”
The bill has the support of seven Republican co-sponsors including U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.
“The Dignity Act is the only realistic solution proposed in Congress that fully secures the border, reestablishes law and order in our immigration system, enacts a 10-year Dignity Program providing renewable legal status, and offers an additional optional redemption path to permanent legalization. This reasonable and compassionate approach will finally fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades,” the congresswoman’s office insisted. “It is the first substantial immigration reform bill written by a freshman Member of Congress in modern history.”
Still, with the Democrats in charge of both chambers of Capitol Hill and no companion measure in the U.S. Senate, Salazar will have a hard time getting her bill through. Also hurting the bill’s chances is the fact that it was sent to more than a dozen committee stops. The bill was assigned to the U.S. House Judiciary; Homeland Security; Ways and Means; Agriculture; Natural Resources; Transportation and Infrastructure; Budget; Education and Labor; Foreign Affairs; Oversight and Reform; Intelligence; Armed Services; and Financial Services Committees.
This week, Salazar hosted a roundtable in Miami and stressed the three “core principles” of her proposal: “stopping illegal immigration, providing a dignified solution for immigrants living in America, and strengthening the American workforce and economy.”
“I am very glad to hear from community leaders around Miami and answer their questions about my proposal to address the complex problems our country faces around immigration,” said Salazar. “As your voice in Washington, I am working diligently to solve one of the most complex issues in our community and across America. That is why introduced the Dignity Act, which fully secures our border and addresses the systemic issues in our immigration system through common sense solutions.”
But the proposal has drawn heavy fire from the right, including from Carlson. Last week, Carlson insisted Salazar wanted to defend Ukraine’s border but not the U.S. border with Mexico.
“Should we send the U.S. military to the Mexican border? Since you have admitted, that tens of millions of people have come here illegally; that our borders are porous, they’re not defended, they’re open. Should we send the U.S. military to the Mexican border?” Carlson demanded.
“You just called last month for the amnesty for tens of millions of people who came into this country illegally,” Carlson insisted. “You did, because I read the legislation today.”
“No, I did not,” she replied. “The Dignity Act is an immigration reform law…..it has one of the strongest border securities in the history of the U.S. Congress…..amnesty is what we have now, Tucker.”
