WASHINGTON — Hispanic Christian leaders are expressing support for a Republican-led immigration bill, believing God will “guide” President Donald Trump to sign the Dignity Act if it passes both chambers of Congress.
The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which represents thousands of churches throughout the United States and the Spanish-speaking world, hosted a leadership summit at the Museum of the Bible on Tuesday. The event featured a lengthy discussion about the Dignity Act, an immigration bill touted by its sponsor, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., as a “Solomonic solution to immigration.”
NHCLC President Samuel Rodriguez urged those gathered at the event to post messages on social media declaring, “It’s time for the Dignity Act.” Rodriguez vowed that the “NHCLC will be issuing a press release with 100 percent unbridled support of the Dignity Act.”
Salazar, whose legislation has 23 co-sponsors, cited provisions in the bill, saying, “the Lord was the one who put me here” to “do immigration.” She also delivered a message to President Donald Trump, noting that the “same Lord who saved you from death in Pennsylvania [and] put you back in the White House is the same God who is going to guide you to sign the Dignity Act.”
The Dignity Act is designed to shield illegal immigrants who do not have a criminal record and have “been here for more than five years” from deportation, she added, but does not offer a path to citizenship.
“For the Republican Party, the party that I represent proudly in Congress … that’s less of a headache,” she said. Preventing beneficiaries of the Dignity Act from receiving citizenship means they won’t be able to obtain federal benefits, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, she added.
In addition to preventing beneficiaries of the Dignity Act from receiving citizenship, it also requires them to pay $7,000 in fines over seven years and 1% of their salary to the federal government. The measure also mandates the use of eVerify to check the immigration status of workers.
The legislation is currently sitting with the House Judiciary Committee, where it must pass a vote before it can be sent to the House floor for a vote.
During a panel discussion, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Pastor Junior Garcia, noted that some pastors “come in with B1 or B2 visas” and “overstay because they planted a church. Now they’re up to 40, 50 people [and] they have to go back.”
Garcia asked Salazar if the Dignity Act would include an option to overlook the visa overstay and possibly give legal residency to such pastors.
In response to that question and another one about a “pastor who was deported, came back and got married to an American citizen, but he can’t fix his status,” Salazar said she would work to make changes to the bill during committee to ensure a “special provision” is added enabling pastors to obtain “Dignity status.”
Salazar acknowledged that the bill faces a difficult path because of concerns from Republican lawmakers that they might be accused of voting for “amnesty” by supporting the legislation, even though it doesn’t provide illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship. She insisted that support from Trump could change the fate of the legislation. “The mandate has to come from the White House,” she insisted.
“That’s why President Trump is the one who has to understand that […] this is the moment to do this,” she asserted. “Once he says ‘let’s do it,’ it’s done.”
While Salazar touted a possible endorsement from Trump as a potential game-changer, she urged Hispanic Christian leaders to take action to ensure passage of the Dignity Act, warning that the consequences of not doing so would only hurt Hispanic Christians, many of whom have been reducing their time in public due to concerns about facing potential deportation.
“I need the Hispanic pastors that are seeing the suffering, the misery that our community is going through, the fear. Kids are not going to school; parents are not going to church, they are not going to the supermarket, they are not catching the bus, they are not going to work,” she maintained. Salazar also encouraged attendees to reach out to the Rev. Paula White and Jenny Korn of the White House Faith Office and tell them “this is very conservative.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
