Maria Salazar Vows To Fix ‘40 Years Of A Broken Immigration System’ Through Dignity Act

2 days ago

During Wednesday's ‘Secure America’s Workforce’ rally on Capitol Hill, Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) discussed her proposed Dignity Act that will work to improve the immigration system.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I agree with my colleagues. Bipartisan coalition that

00:07we have here that this is one of the most important topics that we are facing as lawmakers.

00:17We are proud Republicans and we do know, and I agree with Newhouse, that this is the moment

00:22to fix the immigration system that has been broken for the last 40 years. For everybody.

00:29For the families, for the agriculturals, for construction, for hospitality, for the average

00:33American. President Trump promised that he was going to seal the border. He did. That he was

00:43going to deport Tren de Aragua. He's doing it. That he was going to do away with the gangs,

00:48MS-13. He was going to send them back to El Salvador. And that is happening as we speak.

00:54So we applaud that because no one wanted an open border. No one wanted four years of open borders

00:59with 10 million people, many of them Tren de Aragua, many of them child sex traffickers,

01:06bringing kids from Central and South America. We don't know where they are and we need to find

01:11them. So the problem was immense, but this administration fixed it in 40 days.

01:18As Newhouse said, our country has been built on immigrants. My parents,

01:27I'm first generation Cuban American, others are Greek Americans, others are Italian. It doesn't

01:32matter. We all come from somewhere. And right now, as statistics indicate, we have from 10

01:40to 12 million people who are immigrants, many of them sound and look like me, Hispanics from

01:46Central and South America who have been here for more than five years. They are not the people who

01:52just arrived through the border four years ago, who have been the silent heroes. They have been

01:58doing in silence day after day, the work that is needed for our economy to grow in agricultural,

02:06in construction, in hospitality. These people do not have a criminal record.

02:11Many of them have American children. Many of them have been paying taxes year after year,

02:17knowing that they're not going to get that money back. But nonetheless, they're here because they

02:22love the American dream. And they have helped us to have food by Friday, as Newhouse said,

02:28to have new homes for the workforce and to be able to go to nice hotels and pay a cheap price.

02:35So it's time to do something revolutionary and give them a dignified life in the promised land.

02:47And that is the name of my victory. Four years ago, we introduced it. You were not of the House.

02:52He was one of those who accompanied me on this trek. But now is the moment to bring dignity back.

03:00And that is what we're doing. The Dignity Act of 2025, we're about to introduce it,

03:06is going to be revolutionary. Why? Because it's going to be salamander. It's going to

03:11be in the middle. We're going to cut the baby in two. And we are going to satisfy

03:18those people in the agricultural, in the hospitality, in the construction,

03:22the political sector, the Republicans and the Democrats. It's not perfect,

03:27but it's the art of the past. And we are going to be able to fix, once and for all,

03:3340 years of a broken system, the immigration system. This is what all have been working on

03:39for four years. And I do believe that the Trump administration will be the one

03:44fixing the problem. Trump is not going to be the guy who's fixed the problem in Israel,

03:49or with the Houthis, or with Ukraine and Russia. He will also be the guy who will give us internally

03:57a solid and sound immigration system. The Dignity Act caters or cares about

04:05those 10 to 15 million people who have American children, who have been paying taxes,

04:10who do not have a criminal record, and who have put food on the table year after year,

04:16or built the homes, or helped in the hospitality industry. And they have helped growth. They have

04:24brought growth to our economy. We will not be able to continue being the number one economy in the

04:30world if we do not have hands. And those hands are inside. I'm not talking about those people

04:37who came in through, I'm not talking about those who are coming in, I'm talking about the ones who

04:40are here. And they have roots, and we all know them, and we love them, because most of them

04:47have not committed a crime. So I thank you. As Newhouse said, we need all of you. We need all

04:53of you in the immigration space to call our fellow congressmen and congresswomen on this

05:00Republican side, on the Democratic side, and explain to them that there is a group of people

05:05inside already who are helping us continue being the number one country in the world. So thanks

05:13again. We're here to help you and to join you in this common fight of fixing our immigration system

05:20and bringing dignity to those people who live among us, who are helping us. That's the Christian

05:25thing to do. That's the right thing to do. That's the Republican thing to do. Thank you.

05:50She's saying in Spanish. Where's Spanish here? Where's Spanish? Right there. Okay.

Maria Salazar Vows To Fix ‘40 Years Of A Broken Immigration System’ Through Dignity Act

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