Blog
I Reintroduced the Dignity Act - Here's Why.
Washington, D.C.,
July 16, 2025
Tags:
Immigration
Our immigration system is broken and hasn’t been meaningfully updated in decades. That’s why I reintroduced a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform bill known as the Dignity Act.
Together with Congresswoman Maria Salazar and a group of our Democratic and Republican colleagues, we’re trying to address an issue Congress has ignored for so long.
We first introduced the Dignity Act last Congress. Back then, we controlled the Senate and the White House. As we find ourselves in a Republican trifecta, changes were made to the bill to reflect this new political reality and address some of the issues we’ve seen since then. Our legislation can be broken up into four sections: legal status and protections for undocumented immigrants, border security, asylum reform, and visa reform. 1. Eligible undocumented immigrants could enroll in our newly created Dignity Program that would grant legal status, work and travel authorities, as well as protections in this permanently renewable status.
2. The border security section has funding for border infrastructure and equipment, as well as CBP agents and officers. It updates their training and provides new guidelines, such as making it unlawful to carry out immigration enforcement actions in places like schools, hospitals, places of worship, courthouses, and more. 3. Under current law, the only way to claim asylum is to declare your intention to seek asylum at the border. Our asylum reform section establishes 3 regional processing centers across Latin America so that immigrants can legally seek asylum without making the dangerous trek through the western hemisphere to the United States. It also ensures that asylum seekers have guaranteed access to legal counsel as they go through the asylum process. 4. Finally, the visa reform section addresses long ignored backlogs to ensure our country remains competitive. It’s time Congress finally addresses our broken system in a fair, orderly way that’ll benefit our country - immigrants and Americans alike. There hasn't been a more urgent time to do so. |