Overview
- The Dignity Act was reintroduced in the House on July 15 by Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Veronica Escobar and now counts over 20 co-sponsors from both parties.
- It offers undocumented immigrants present before 2021 the chance to earn up to seven years of renewable work authorization in exchange for restitution payments, background checks and DHS check-ins.
- The bill also requires nationwide E-Verify, boosts funding for border barriers and technology, speeds up asylum processing and mandates ICE accountability.
- Nine House Republicans signed on alongside a dozen Democrats, prompting hard-line conservatives such as Steve Bannon to condemn the measure as amnesty.
- Now pending committee review, backers frame the bill as a commonsense compromise to stabilize labor supply, but critics vow to fight its approval.