Rep. Maria Salazar’s (R-FL) “Dignity Act” amnesty would have given a green card, and thus a path to naturalized American citizenship, to accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Will Chamberlain with the Article III Project says.
The Dignity Act, which now has the backing of 19 House Republicans, offers amnesty to millions of illegal aliens living in the United States as long as they meet certain requirements. It remains unclear how those requirements would be enforced.
In an op-ed for Fox News Digital, Chamberlain details how Abrego Garcia — the illegal alien accused of human smuggling, MS-13 gang membership, and abusing his wife who became a flashpoint in the immigration debate last year when the media declared him a “Maryland father” facing deportation — would have secured amnesty under the Dignity Act.
Chamberlain writes:
To demonstrate how ridiculous her bill is, let’s apply it to the “Maryland Father,” Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He’s the illegal alien from El Salvador who came here in 2011 when he was 16. Law enforcement has tied him to MS-13. His wife accused him of beating her. He was caught on a police bodycam ferrying other illegals up from Texas to Maryland. Yet under Salazar’s bill, he checks every box for the “Dreamer” track that leads straight to a green card and then citizenship. A future Democrat administration could just process the paperwork.
The bill treats him as eligible for citizenship because he entered as a minor 15 years ago. Never mind that he left and was removed — he gets an exception to the continuous-presence requirement. You would think that his ties to MS-13 would exclude him, and the bill does say that gang members are barred if they “voluntarily participated in offenses committed by a criminal street gang.” But turn the page and Salazar’s bill quietly guts the rule: federal authorities would be explicitly forbidden from using state or federal gang databases to prove anyone is a gang member. Not allegations from the FBI’s gang files. Not state gang task force records. Nothing. They apparently would need a full criminal conviction for gang activity — which would already make the person inadmissible on ordinary felony grounds. It’s the kind of provision that makes you wonder if Maria Salazar thinks we’re all stupid.
Domestic violence? The bill doesn’t count mere allegations or even police reports. It requires a conviction, which in Abrego Garcia’s case doesn’t exist. And even then, Abrego Garcia could argue he was himself a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or trafficking and get a waiver. Human smuggling? The Secretary of Homeland Security could choose to waive that disqualification for “humanitarian purposes, family unity, or because the waiver is otherwise in the public interest.” That’s a loophole the size of the van that Abrego Garcia used to traffic migrants. [Emphasis added throughout]
Chamberlain notes that Abrego Garcia could enroll himself in an educational program and wait only a few years to become eligible for a green card under the amnesty, which would then put him on a track to becoming a naturalized American citizen.
During a recent interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), a co-sponsor of the Dignity Act, claimed the bill would not reward any “criminal aliens” with amnesty. When pressed by Ingraham on how such provisions would be enforced, Lawler struggled to explain.
“I don’t want anyone getting a waiver…” Lawler said, to which Ingraham responded, “[A waiver] is in the legislation. Have you read the legislation?”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.
