The Dignity Act Is a Trojan Horse for Mass Amnesty

When anyone in Congress introduces immigration “reform” legislation and claims that it’s “bipartisan,” you can safely bet that it’s an amnesty bill. And that is precisely what we have in the “Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act,” (the DIGNIDAD or Dignity Act) introduced by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida.

Yep, Salazar is a Republican, as are 19 of the bill’s 39 co-sponsors. But the “R” next to their names belies the fact that this legislation betrays everything that conservative voters believe when it comes to border security and immigration enforcement. In practice, the Dignity Act would reward those who broke U.S. laws and only incentivize more illegal immigration.

As George Fishman of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) points out, “The Dignity Act grants first-tier amnesty (green cards) to somewhere between 2.5 and 2.7 million illegal aliens (Dreamers) who came to the U.S. before January 2, 2021.” That’s just the beginning. Fishman goes on to explain, “The Dignity Act grants second-tier amnesty (work permits) to somewhere around 11.8 million illegal aliens (Dignity-ers) who came to the U.S. before January 1, 2021.”

At this point, the natural question becomes: What could possibly possess so many Republicans to co-sponsor such a bill? The answer, unfortunately, is more of the same establishment GOP nonsense that should have been excised from the party long ago.

The reality is that many Republicans in Congress actually believe corporate media reports that the Latino voters who returned them to the majority in 2024 will desert them this fall. This is purportedly due to dissatisfaction with President Trump’s deportation policies.

But wait a minute – were Trump’s plans to secure the border and deport illegal aliens really some big secret? Trump specifically pledged to take aggressive action against illegal aliens in 2024, explicitly promising “the largest mass deportation operation in American history.” He still received a record number of Latino votes.

Yet the Republican co-sponsors of the Dignity Act are willing to “betray” their voters, as Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) phrased it in an X post last week. In doing so, Republicans are shamefully engaging in the same sort of cynical identity politics and vote-buying efforts that Democrats have leaned on for years.

Rep. Salazar has angrily lashed out at critics of her bill: “Calling the DIGNITY Act ‘amnesty’ isn’t just wrong. It’s a deliberate distortion and it exposes just how little you know about the bill.” She further claimed, “This is enforcement first: zero tolerance for criminals, permanent border security, and hard, earned requirements to step forward and face the law, so American workers are protected, not undercut.”

To call Salazar’s claims dishonest would be far too generous. Her “enforcement first” bill is a Trojan Horse for amnesty. As Heritage Action sums it up:

“The Dignity Act dangles minor border security investments as an exchange for major amnesty and immigration expansions that would severely handicap President Trump’s mass deportation mandate. Rather than operating as a ‘solution,’ this bill would be a historically destructive amnesty proposal with the largest amnesty lookback ever. The legislation hides the long-term costs on the American taxpayer and acknowledges but does nothing to improve the undermining of wages for American workers.”

It boggles the mind how Salazar can claim that her bill is not an amnesty bill. It gives green cards to millions of people who crossed the border illegally and are in the United States in violation of federal law. That is the definition of amnesty.

But not only would this bill grant mass amnesty to illegal aliens, it would also effectively halt virtually all deportations. Andrew R. Arthur, also of CIS, explains the loopholes for amnesty applicants embedded within each of the two tiers that his colleague George Fishman describes: “Under sections 2203 (for the first amnesty) and 2303(d) (for the second one) of the bill, no applicant who ‘appears to be prima facie eligible for status’ can be removed until a final determination is made on that application, including those who have already been ordered removed.”

In other words, even illegal aliens who have pending orders of removal would be given amnesty under this bill.

Arthur also points out that the bill allows the amnesty applicants to seek judicial review of a denial. This is an obvious “tell” concerning the actual intentions of the Dignity Act. Immigration cases are normally decided by administrative judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) under the aegis of the Department of Justice. Rep. Salazar knows perfectly well that allowing judicial review for deportation orders issued by the BIA would swamp the federal judiciary and effectively bring deportations to a halt.

This is, of course, one of the primary goals of the Dignity Act, and everyone knows it. Ironically, the bill was reintroduced last summer and didn’t create much of a stir. The current tumult began when Rep. Salazar and her co-sponsors launched a “Dignity Tour” in late March to promote the bill.

“The launch marks a major step in building a durable, cross-sector movement to advance immigration reform grounded in both economic reality and the fundamental principle of human dignity,” a press release from Salazar’s office reads. However, as Will Chamberlain of the Article III Project writes for Fox News:

“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.”

Yet, Salazar’s Republican co-sponsors wax poetic about the bill. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) insists, “The Dignity Act is about fixing a broken system the right way, with fairness and accountability. It’s not about amnesty, it’s about dignity.” Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX) gushes, “The Dignity Act is a bipartisan effort to fix our laws, strengthen our workforce, and restore the American Dream with dignity. This is our moment to come together and finally get it done.” The other 17 Republican co-sponsors use the same trite phrases.

President Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson should make sure that these 19 representatives all know the Republican House majority they enjoy was handed to them by voters who came to the polls in 2024 expecting something to be done about illegal immigration. And that something did not include anything resembling a monstrosity like “the DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act.”

Lawmakers who ignore that reality and align themselves with policies that even remotely resemble mass amnesty risk a growing disconnect with their own base. That disconnect rarely goes unanswered – often taking the form of well-funded primary challengers who are more faithful to the rule of law and the promises that put Republicans back in power. In their misguided efforts to win more voters rather than delivering for the voters who elected them in the first place, Republicans who compromise on protecting American sovereignty may ironically find themselves out of office all the same.

David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.