Tipsheet

The Dignity Act – Amnesty or Real Immigration Reform?

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  April 08, 2026 3:45 PM

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing a controversial immigration bill that has many on both sides talking — and arguing over whether it is a viable solution to America’s immigration problems.

This comes amid national debate on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. The campaign to promote the bill, called “The Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act,” has expanded to include more than 50 national organizations.

Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar (FL-27) and Veronica Escobar (TX-16) reintroduced the act last year as the Trump administration ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts. The goal was to pair his approach to immigration with a legal process for some illegal immigrants, according to CBS News.

The Dignity Act has several core pillars: enhanced border security, faster asylum processing, employer enforcement, and a legal status program. It would bump up funding for barriers, surveillance technology, and Border Patrol staffing. The measure would also create “full care campuses” at the border to enable the authorities to process asylum claims more quickly.

The act would also mandate nationwide E-Verify for employers and tighten penalties for crimes linked to illegal immigration. Under the measure, the government would allocate more resources to clear visa backlogs and prevent some children from “aging out” of family-based immigration.

The proposed legislation would create a “Dignity Program” that would grant certain illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for years work authorization and protection from deportation if they pass background checks, pay taxes and restitution, and remain employed.

Illegal immigrants would not receive a pathway to citizenship or access to federal welfare programs. 

Supporters tout the measure as a realistic way to stabilize a system that has relied on the labor of illegal immigrants for decades. Salazar told reporters “We have 10 million people or more working in construction, hospitality, agriculture, dairy, fisheries, slaughterhouses who are undocumented but are not criminals,” Salazar told reporters. “No more need to choose between amnesty or deportation. The Dignity bill is the answer.”

Escobar characterized the measure as a response to years of government inaction to solve the immigration issue. “Congress has not passed comprehensive immigration reform in our country in nearly four decades,” she said. “This bill addresses long standing, long overdue legislation that will benefit our Dreamers, some of the most important young people in our country who by no choice of their own are here and know no other land than America.”

However, there are critics on both sides of the political divide. Some immigrant advocates worry that asking people to pay thousands of dollars in restitution while denying access to benefits and citizenship would lock them into second-class status for years.

Conservatives argue that any effort to offer legal status to illegal immigration amounts to amnesty, a charge Salazar has rejected. Still, they have expressed fears that the measure would encourage more illegal immigration, regardless of the tougher border security and enforcement on employers.