Rep. Salazar Introduces Bipartisan DIGNIDAD Act Offering Legal Status Pathway for Long-Term Immigrants

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) introduced the bipartisan DIGNIDAD Act, which provides a pathway to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for more than five years and can pass a criminal background check. The bill received a lukewarm reception from allies of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump nonprofit group.

Former California Republican Rep. Michael Garcia spoke at an AFPI Hispanic Leadership Coalition panel and responded to questions about the legislation. “All these calls for immigration reform are interesting.

They’re needed, and in many cases, they’re value added. We have to fix the leak, which is the open border policy. This is four years of very dangerous policy that has now placed close to 20 million people in our country,” Garcia said.

He added, “I want to fix the pipe first. I want to get an accounting of who is here. I want to get the criminals out of our society. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and an AFPI senior fellow who lives in Rep.

Gonzalez said he had purposely not read the legislation because he did not want to form an opinion on it. “We have one immigration agency. The more legislation you throw on top of it, [the] more work, [the] more things can fall through the crack.

You only got a finite number of people. Let’s talk about what we have now,” he said. , as does the Pew Research Center. President Donald Trump is in his second term and has heavily focused on cracking down on illegal immigration at the southern border.

Customs and Border Protection released operational statistics showing an eighth consecutive month of zero releases of illegal immigrants and reported a record low number of encounters at the border in December 2025. U.S. Office of Citizenship under former President George W.

Bush, attended the panel. “This is really not the time to talk about amnesty or providing legal status to illegal immigrants. This is the time to get our house in order,” Aguilar said. Laura Lovelace attended the AFPI Hispanic leadership coalition immigration roundtable.

The House Problem Solvers Caucus endorsed the DIGNIDAD legislation this week. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Co-Chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, said, “The Dignity Act offers a responsible bipartisan path forward: securing the border, restoring order, protecting American workers, and ensuring legal status is earned through accountability and respect for the law.

This is not amnesty; it is common sense, compassion, and the rule of law working together. The American people know this problem can be solved. ” The National Hispanic Pastors Alliance’s American Dream immigration proposal includes a seven-year path to legalization requiring background checks, tax compliance, employment, and law-abiding conduct, a $5,000 restitution payment, and either renewable legal temporary resident status at $10,000 or a path to citizenship requiring an additional five years as a permanent resident, English, civics, and service requirements, and a $5,000 fee.

Rev. Carlos Duran is president of the NHPA. Emilio Gonzalez later said, “I salute the congresswoman. She is a wonderful human being. She is a dear personal friend. But I’m not sure this is the time to do this.

Washington Examiner reported these developments.