Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) is on a mission to address immigration and is proposing meaningful reforms that could resolve the current quagmire surrounding the issue.
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Salazar, a Republican whose family is from Cuba, told CBN News that he believes many Americans misunderstand the issue.
“We can’t deport every single illegal immigrant in our country because…we don’t have the resources to do it,” she said. “At the same time, they are a necessary hand in growing the economy.”
But Salazar, who has published a new book on the issue, “Dignity, Not Citizenship,” said the other side of the aisle also misses the point in wanting to “give everyone a path to citizenship and make them citizens even if they’ve broken the law.”
The lawmaker said he believed there was a third way that would bring balance and “dignity.”
She proposed the Dignity Act earlier this year. He believes the law will help bring illegal aliens who have been in the United States for more than five years “out of the shadows.”
“I’m not talking about giving any type of citizenship or amnesty to people who have been here for more than five years and have no criminal record,” Salazar said. “I offer them a dignified position, which allows them to stay in the country, come home for Christmas, buy a home, pay a $7,000 fine, pay and spend 1% of their salary for the next seven years, and live a dignified life in the Promised Land.”
He said it was a centrist way to solve a “40-year-old problem” that neither side of politics could solve. Salazar said her faith fueled her determination to tackle the issue.
“I’m a born-again Christian,” she said. “I’m a militant Christian. I believe this is the right thing to do. The Bible says over and over again, ‘Treat your neighbor as yourself.'”
She continued, “We don’t necessarily have to give them citizenship, but if we treat them well and they have roots in our communities, we should give them some sort of dignified life.”
Salazar said he is not advocating that illegal aliens should be able to access federal programs, vote or become Americans. Instead, she is looking for ways to allow them to come forward in a viable and legal way while still allowing them to contribute and help.
He said it was important to go after criminal illegal immigrants, but that the current power dynamic could go too far.
“I do not agree that we should deport someone who has been here for 20 years, has three American children, has no criminal record, and contributes by picking up jalapenos in Southern California, cleaning toilets and slaughterhouses and dairies and milking cows in Manhattan,” she said. “Sure, they’re illegal. But the guy who gave him the job also broke the law. So you start going into this spiral, and I want to stop it. So bring everyone out of the shadows, give them responsibility, give them dignity.”
Salazar also emphasized the importance of the Republican Party gaining support from Hispanics, noting that failing to do so will cost the Republican Party elections.
Salazar also spent time denouncing socialism and communism, explaining her own background to help explain why these systems make her uneasy.
“Socialism is Marxism and Marxism is communism,” she said. “My parents are Cuban, so we know. I’m a first-generation American and I know exactly what that ideology does to you.”
“It’s great in theory, but it’s disastrous in practice,” Salazar continued.
She went on to call communism an “evil ideology.”
“It’s atrocious, it’s brutal, it’s anti-Christian, it’s anti-American,” Salazar said. “So we Republicans have to wake up and bring new votes to our base.”
Ultimately, Salazar said, “We are the greatest country on earth,” and encouraged Christians to take action to close the divide on immigration. This would be a step that would help stop the spread of socialism.
“Hispanics are the fastest growing population in the United States,” she says. “We need to bring them to the Republican Party. I’m doing everything I can. The Lord Almighty will get this job done, and I guarantee you He will.”
Salazar also believes President Donald Trump will support her bill.
“I always said to him, ‘Mr. President, it’s the same God…The same God who saved you from death in Pennsylvania is the same One who will enlighten you and give dignity to those people,'” she said.
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