Two Latina Congresswoman presented a Bipartisan Immigration Bill on Tuesday. The bill would create a 12-year path for legal status in two parts and require that the border be declared secure first before anyone on this path could receive legal status.
The Dignity Act is the name of the legislation introduced by Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) and Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).
The government said that it would give people who are in the country illegally the right to work without being deported. The asylum process would be accelerated and asylum seekers arriving at the southern border would be detained at one of five “humanitarian campus” where they could stay until the case was decided. The border infrastructure would be funded by docking the wages of those without legal status.
Salazar stated that the bill should not be mistaken with the 1986 amnesty act signed by Ronald Reagan. The bill contains tougher measures and greater penalties than the Republican border security measure approved by House members on May 11,
Salazar told a Capitol Hill press conference: “I do not want anyone to mistake amnesty for dignity.” “This isn’t amnesty.” The undocumented people have enjoyed amnesty for the past 30 years. Free roads, schools and hospitals. “In the Dignity Law, everyone pays for their ride.”
Salazar, a Cuban-American, said that the bill aims to “bring dignity to Border Patrol agents, who, she claimed, are “overworked” and “underpaid”, to the business community, which is in need of workers, and to the millions of people who “are invisible to most Americans and who do the jobs other Americans are unwilling to perform.”
It was proposed just a few days after the Biden Administration ended the use of a health act, title 42 imposed during pandemic. The anticipated end of the law brought more people, but not as many to the border in order to apply for asylum or to gain entry.
El Paso was the first stop for many people arriving in the United States, including those who were processed by Border Patrol. In December’s cold, and in recent months, the city witnessed hundreds of people sleeping in their streets.
Escobar, a Mexican-American, said that Congress’ inaction has impacted communities like his own, in El Paso, Texas and communities on the southern border, but also communities located far from the border.
Congress has repeatedly failed to pass legislation which modernizes immigration laws and keeps pace with shifting migration realities.
Vanessa Cardenas (executive director of America’s Voice), an immigrant advocacy organization that has supported immigration legislation, said in a statement that the legislation was an important alternative to House GOP Bill. The Democrat-led Senate will not likely take up the House Republican Bill, which focuses primarily on enforcement.
She questioned if the Salazar-Escobar Bill had much of a chance to advance, stating that the House “seems more interested in the politics of an immigration system broken than real solutions.”
Some of the specific provisions in the Salazar/Escobar bill include:
Before allowing immigration to be legalized permanently, the General Accounting Office must certify that the Border Patrol detected and arrested 90% of those crossing the border illegally.
The “Dignity Program” allows people who have been in the country without a legal status for five years and no criminal record, to continue working and not be deported for seven years.
The “Dignity Program”, in addition to the taxes that they pay, will deduct a “dignity tax” of 1.5% from their paycheck. The fee is $5,000.
— Give those who have completed the Dignity Program the “Dignity Status” and an extra five years of work in the U.S. The status is renewable indefinitely.
— Those who have completed the Dignity Program can enter the Redemption Program, a five-year program in which they will learn English and U.S. Civics. They may also perform community service, or pay an additional $5,000. They will receive permanent legal residency, a step towards citizenship. Participants are instructed to “go to the back of the line” according to the bill.
Accelerate the asylum process by 60 days.
The bill would create an immediate protected status for those immigrants who came or arrived in the country as children. These are called Dreamers or Temporary Protection Status. This is a form of protection against deportation that the president grants to people from countries which have been affected by natural disasters, war or other upheaval.
