Mass amnesty would be a slap in the face to the American people — and a betrayal of the mandate voters delivered in 2024. The American people sent Republicans to Washington to secure the border, enforce our laws, and put American workers and families first. Yet some in our own party are attempting to resurrect the deeply flawed DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act.

This bill must die in the cradle. It is not “commonsense reform.” It is mass amnesty dressed up in deceptive language, and it undermines the agenda Americans demanded.

Sponsors of the legislation, led by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, insist the bill is not amnesty. They claim it merely brings people “out of the shadows” with earned legal status while securing the border and protecting American workers. Rep. Mike Lawler, a vocal co-sponsor, has even touted it as a bipartisan fix that codifies tough immigration policies.

Salazar has pushed back against critics of the bill, suggesting opponents simply haven’t read the text. So let’s examine the legislation’s own provisions.

The bill’s Sections 2102-2104 establish a version of the Dream Act that grants conditional lawful permanent resident status to illegal aliens who entered the United States before age 18, have been continuously present since January 1, 2021, meet education, employment, or military service requirements, and pass background checks. DACA recipients receive an accelerated track to conditional green cards.

This is a direct path to citizenship for an estimated 2.5 million “Dreamers” who entered unlawfully as minors, eventually making them eligible for U.S. citizenship and sponsor their lawbreaking parents. The bottom line is the Dignity Act rewards breaking our laws with a clear pathway deeper into the American system.

The bill goes much further, though, in Sections 2301-2305 by creating the Dignity Program, a separate track for the estimated 10.5 million illegal aliens here prior to 2021 who do not qualify for the “Dreamer” provisions. If they pay a simple $1,000 “restitution” fee, submit biometrics, pass a background check, and have no felony convictions, they receive a 7-year renewable “Dignity status” with work and travel authorizations, which they can use existing pathways to adjust to a green card (and therefore a pathway to citizenship).

Sponsors emphasize that there is no path to citizenship and no access to most federal benefits. This is false, and the critical detail they downplay is this: qualifying for the program suspends deportation for anyone who applies and meets the basic criteria, including certain criminals. In practice, this effectively halts mass deportations for the overwhelming majority of the illegal alien population already here. In fact, Section 2204 of the bill explicitly allows illegal aliens deported on or after January 20, 2017 – the day President Trump was first inaugurated – to apply for the bill’s permanent resident status (the “dignity status” outlined above) directly from their home country and, if approved, to return to the United States as lawful permanent residents. This bill seeks to unwind the tremendous successes of President Trump in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws.

Estimates of the unauthorized population have ranged between 12 million and 20 million. The bill’s cutoffs capture nearly all long-term illegal residents, effectively legalizing their presence and shielding them from removal. Proponents call this “earned” status. Conservatives recognize it for what it is: a de facto amnesty that signals to the world that entering illegally carries little permanent consequence once you settle in.

This is unacceptable. American voters did not elect us to rubber-stamp the Biden-era border crisis or to create new legal protections that make large-scale enforcement impossible. Granting work authorization and deferred removal to millions rewards lawbreakers, undercuts wages for American blue-collar workers, and shifts enormous costs onto taxpayers for education, emergency healthcare, housing, and law enforcement. Even if the bill claims “no federal benefits,” indirect costs remain substantial, and local governments bear much of the burden.

Republicans should be expanding detention capacity and streamlining deportations — not creating new protected classes of illegal aliens.

The solution is not to legalize the problem; it is to enforce the law consistently and deter future illegal immigration. The American people understand this. Polling consistently shows strong support for enforcement first, not amnesty-first “compromises.”

As members of the House Freedom Caucus, we stand with the voters who rejected open borders and demanded accountability. We will oppose any legislation that grants mass legal status to illegal aliens, suspends deportations on this scale, or weakens our resolve to restore the rule of law. The DIGNIDAD Act is not a solution — it is a surrender. It must be rejected outright.

No amnesty. No amnesty-lite. No DIGNIDAD Act. That’s our red line.

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Keith Self represents Texas’s 3rd Congressional District and serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Andrew Clyde represents Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District and serves on the House Appropriations and Budget Committees.

Sheri Biggs represents South Carolina’s Third District and serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Randy Fine represents Florida’s Sixth District and serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

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No Amnesty, No Surrender: Why The DIGNIDAD Act Must Die