Why the Dignity Act is the key to fixing the Immigration System?
The world-known American culture and history have been shaped by immigration. But in spite of a major ratio of the population of America being immigrants and catering to the country’s best interests for a long time, they had not been bestowed with the most immigration-friendly rights on their plate.
Maria Elvira Salazar, Representative of Miami Republic, had introduced a residency program in the form of legislation for the betterment of the immigrants of the U.S.
- The 483 paged bill by Salazar constructs a solid path of allowance of citizenship in the USA with completion of programs in over 15 years.
- It incorporates initiatives to increase border security.
- It includes a program for seekers of asylum.
- It includes legal residential rights to immigrants who have not been documented on the authorized papers of the country.
The key provisions of the act are as follows :
- A path to becoming a citizen for the Dreamers and holders of temporary protected status.
- This Dignity Act, which is a bill in relation to the Dignity Programme, gives an allowance to work in the United States for a period of 10 years. And it mandates an annual payment of $10,000 to the fund for employment training.
- After ten years’ tenure, the Dignity Program participants will have an option to participate in a Redemption program which will lay down the path for permanent residence and the United States citizenship. The program features requirements of
- i) Having knowledge about English and Civics
- ii) Engaging in local volunteer work
iii) Paying a residual amount of $7,500
- Providing funds for border security, i.e., physical security technological security, alongside hiring 3,000 new security personnel for U.S. Customs and Border Protection + Homeland Security.
- Extend the Agricultural Guest Work Programme and take care of the seasonal labor requirements.
- Abiding by the cause by housing asylum applicants at the border with a count of 1,700 new personnel to look into the cases.
- Nationwide E-verify.
At the end of 2021, Democrats of Congress had proposed reforms for the inclusion of immigration in a certain act termed to be Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which had precisely aimed to aid the undocumented immigrants of the United States with parole and authorization work. The BBBA also had included steps for diminishing reserves pertinent to the green card and providing certain applicants with the citizenship card in lieu of a fee. But owing to circumstances, the act did not get passed.
Congresswoman Salazar with other Republicans introduced the Dignity Act, referring to it as a ” rebuttal ” to the previously planned BBBA.
The most noteworthy point about this U.S. citizenship and immigration services friendly proposal is that it promises an assured future for unauthorized and undocumented immigrants while taking care of the visa programs of H-2A and H-2B during the seasonal labor phase in lieu of ordaining E-verify and Border security.
