The release — or lack thereof — of the Epstein Files has consumed most of MAGA’s attention in recent days. But there’s something far more dangerous that deserves the full force of MAGA’s attention: a cadre of so-called Republicans is working to foist a mass amnesty program on the American people.
Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar reintroduced the DIGNITY Act on Tuesday, which, according to a press release from her office, “allows certain long-term undocumented immigrants to earn legal status, without amnesty or a path to citizenship” so that illegal aliens who broke the law can have an “opportunity.” The bill would create a “7-year earned legal status program allowing” illegal aliens “to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution.”
“The legislation acknowledges a key truth: most undocumented individuals are not seeking citizenship at all costs, but rather the dignity of living and working legally, contributing to society, paying taxes, being safe from deportation, and traveling to see family during the holidays,” Salazar’s press release declares.
But no one deserves to be rewarded for violating our sovereign borders simply because they want to “pay taxes” and “work.” When Republicans dress up mass amnesty as “dignity,” they’re falling into the left’s trap — the lie that empathy must override the rule of law. It’s the same emotional blackmail we see time and time again that demands the American people legalize the presence of illegal aliens because they’ve found the rules too inconvenient to follow.
And conservatives should remember this is not the first time Republicans have been seduced by the false promise of compassionate amnesty. Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was sold as a one-time fix — amnesty for nearly three million illegal aliens in exchange for real, long-lasting border security. The amnesty happened. The border security evidently did not. Reagan’s mistake was that he ceded an inch to people who have no intention of ever stopping there. His decision to grant mass amnesty signaled to Democrats that with enough grandstanding, they could get their way.
The DIGNITY Act is no more than surrender to the destructive delusion that rewarding illegality will somehow stop it. If Republicans once again bend the knee to the narrative that America owes “opportunity” to those who broke our laws, they will only guarantee that the next mass amnesty will soon follow, and then the next one, and the next one. While Salazar claims this legislation would “secure the border” and will not put illegal aliens on a pathway to citizenship, if she’s already willing to cede one inch, what’s another down the line?
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
