WASHINGTON — Immigration reform may be dead this year, but Republicans and Democrats have agreed on a path to citizenship for one guy: Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, the Viscount of Gálvez.
Since he died more than 200 years ago as a hero of the American Revolution, Gálvez is getting his citizenship posthumously.
He’s the eponym of Galveston, Texas, having led battles against the British at Pensacola and along the Gulf Coast.
Congress has only given “honorary” citizenship to seven people, including Winston Churchill and more prominent Revolutionary heroes like the Marquis de Lafayette and Count Casimir Pulaski.
Gálvez appears to be the first native Spanish-speaker to get the designation — at a time when the House hasn’t acted on Senate-passed immigration legislation, which includes a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who came here illegally.
The House Judiciary Committee is set to act on the bill later this week.
The resolution, authored by Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), is co-sponsored by the entire Florida delegation. Dan McFaul, Miller’s chief of staff, rejects any comparisons to the current immigration standoff.
“This is clearly an honorary situation,” he said.
Gálvez led a 7,500-man army of Spaniards, French, African-Americans, Mexicans, Cubans and Anglo-Americans and “played an integral role in the Revolutionary War and helped secure the independence of the United States,” according to the resolution.
His troops helped pin down British forces and block supply efforts, earning Gálvez recognition from Gen. George Washington and the Continental Congress.