A little-known bipartisan immigration bill is triggering a backlash on the right, exposing a growing divide within the GOP over whether anything short of mass deportations is politically acceptable.
The divide spilled into public view on Wednesday when Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Fox News host Laura Ingraham got into a heated back-and-forth over the DIGNIDAD Act. The legislation, introduced last July, creates a path for legal status for illegal immigrants who have resided within the United States for more than five years and can pass a criminal background check. It is backed by 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans in the House.
Proponents, such as Lawler, say the legislation will bring millions of illegal immigrants “out of the shadows,” while requiring them to pay restitution. They also note the bill prohibits illegal immigrants from becoming citizens or receiving welfare benefits, but does allow them to stay in the U.S. permanently, provided they remain in good public standing.
Critics say the bill amounts to a mass amnesty for illegal immigrants. They note the legislation gives immigration officials wide discretion over the eligibility criteria for legalization. Ingraham noted that despite arguing that criminals wouldn’t benefit, the legislation creates a carveout for those convicted of nonviolent crimes.
“You can’t come on this show and say to my audience that you can’t have committed a crime to be eligible under the quote Dignity Act, because there are several crimes that are, quote, nonviolent, that do not qualify for inadmissibility,” Ingraham said. “On top of that, there are multiple instances, including family unity, public interest, and just discretion on the part of immigration officers.”
Lawler defended the bill and argued that no one was getting a “free pass.” The tense exchange capped several days of public fighting among Republican elected officials and MAGA influencers on social media over the bill.
“It’s rank amnesty and everybody knows it,” Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) said about the bill on X. “I want dignity for Americans – the people whose interests we represent – not illegal aliens. That means doing what we said we’d do: mass deportations.”
Gill received a prompt and fiery response from Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), the author of the bill.
“READ. THE. BILL. BEFORE. YOU. OPEN. YOUR. MOUTH,” she wrote on X. “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.”
In subsequent posts, Salazar argued that “most Americans do NOT support deporting every long-term immigrant who has spent years working here, contributing to our economy, who have American kids and are part of our communities.”
Salazar also claimed that mass deportations would “raise the cost of living and lower the quality of life for American families.”
Gill told the Daily Wire that if the bill were to become law, it “effectively stops the president from carrying out his deportation agenda.”
“It’s a massive betrayal of everything Republicans ran on last election cycle,” he said.
Other Republicans and conservatives piled on. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), who is running for Senate, said this “amnesty bill would open the floodgates to 17 MILLION permanent foreign workers.”
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) was even more curt when he posted to X that the “Dignity Act = Treason.”
A number of conservative and MAGA-aligned influencers were also quick to note the legislation’s name, DIGNIDAD, is the Spanish word for dignity.
“They actually gave the amnesty bill a Spanish name,” said Matt Walsh, a commentator with the Daily Wire. “These people just have no respect for their voters at all. They’re spitting in your face and they don’t care if you know it.”
DIGNIDAD is an acronym for the bill’s full title: The Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act.
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Lawler, for his part, responded to conservative critics by noting the outrage was largely over a bill that had little hope of becoming law.
“The bill was introduced last Congress and again last year,” he said. “There was no plan to vote on it right now — it hasn’t even been marked up by committee. Stop lying just to get clicks.”