Salazar leads bipartisan group offering amnesty to millions of illegal aliens

There's never a good time to propose amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, but doing so less than two weeks after Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that provides an unprecedented $150 billion in immigration enforcement funding, and while the Trump Administration revs up its deportation machine, has to be the worst. The administration is also touting the fact that as many as one million illegal aliens have self deported from the United States. Nothing will halt self deportations faster than talk of amnesty.

And yet, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Congresswoman Maria Salazar (R-FL), did just that earlier this week. They reintroduced the Dignity Act – legislation that would grant amnesty to most illegal aliens living in the United States.

The Dignity Act would grant amnesty and a path to citizenship to an estimated 2.5 million illegal-alien "DREAMers," including those who have committed multiple misdemeanors. The legislation also allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to waive inadmissibility for crimes involving moral turpitude, controlled substance violations, controlled substance trafficking, prostitution and commercialized vice, alien smuggling, student visa abuse, and unlawful voting (even though amnesty supporters claim that illegal aliens don't vote).

The bill would also grant amnesty to an estimated 10.5 million illegal aliens who claim that they entered the United States before 2021. While this larger group of illegal aliens wouldn't directly receive a path to citizenship, they would receive a renewable 7-year visa, and they could adjust to a green card and citizenship if they qualify under existing pathways.

This type of “presence” amnesty lends itself especially well to fraud, since illegal aliens are asked to “prove” they have been present in the United States for a certain number of years (in this case, more than five years). Since most illegal aliens try to avoid contact with government authorities, the “proof” generally comes down to easily forged documents like rent or utility bills, or thoroughly unreliable affidavits from friends or relatives. The general amnesty granted by the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was a “presence” amnesty that resulted in massive fraud, as well as the legalization of one of the 1992 World Trade Center bombers, Mahmoud “The Red” Abouhalima.

In addition to the amnesties, the Dignity Act would handcuff Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite the aforementioned funding provided for interior enforcement. The bill would effectively freeze deportations for two years to give all illegal aliens an opportunity to apply for amnesty. Additionally, it limits enforcement actions in "protected areas", including schools, hospitals, places of worship, parks, and much more. 

The bill would also:

• Codify the Flores Settlement Agreement, which has fueled surges of exploited/trafficked unaccompanied children;

• Double employment-based visas by excluding immediate family members from the cap; and

• Further open the foreign student pipeline by:

• Allowing all foreign students to have the intent to remain permanently in the United States;

• Codifying OPT, or optional practical training; and

• Allowing STEM PH.D.s or medical degree students to self-petition for uncapped O-visas and green cards.

Read our one-pager on the Dignity Act here.

Meanwhile, DHS announced that encounters of illegal aliens along the southern border sank to an all-time low in June. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered only 9,306 illegal aliens last month, down from 130,415 in June 2024 and 207,834 in June 2022. 

At the height of the Biden border crisis, more illegal aliens entered the country in a single day than in all of June. What Pres. Trump and his administration have done to reverse the trend of illegal immigration over the last six months is remarkable.

Our chart below covers all encounters of illegal aliens nationwide, including the northern and southern borders as well as ports of entry. The results speak for themselves.

Now, with the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the $150 billion of immigration enforcement funding it includes, the administration can turn most of its attention to its mass deportation efforts. As noted above, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced this week that as many as one million illegal aliens have already self-deported since Pres. Trump took office.

However, without permanent changes that close the asylum loopholes and prevent parole abuse that were exploited under the Biden Administration, everything Pres Trump has done to stop illegal immigration can be reversed by a future president. That's why Congress must reintroduce and pass H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which passed through the House during the last Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) told reporters this week that his committee and the White House are actively working on a revamped version of the Secure the Border Act that would prevent future border crises. After the House passed the bill in 2023, Sen. Chuck Schumer (R-NY) refused to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Assuming it passes the House, we expect Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to bring it to the floor during the current Congress.

Of course, all future progress on codifying Pres. Trump’s progress in stopping illegal immigration, continuing to encourage self deportations, and reducing the harm that mass immigration causes to Americans depends on Congress and the administration firmly rejecting any form of amnesty.

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Next Week

The House and Senate are both in town next week to continue winding down their legislative and confirmation priorities prior to the August recess.

There will be a couple of hearings worth watching:

• Senate Judiciary Committee- Tuesday, July 22nd, at 2:30pm: “Biden’s Border Betrayal: Criminal Aliens in America”

• House Oversight and Government Reform Committee- Wednesday, July 23rd at 2pm: “Catch and Release, Lose and Forget: Addressing the Crisis of Unaccompanied Alien Children – Part I”