South Florida GOP Congresswoman’s Immigration Reform Bill Sparks Backlash From Colleagues, Conservative Commentariat

A South Florida Republican lawmaker, Congresswoman Maria Salazar, is facing intense backlash from the right flank of the House GOP conference for daring to broach what has become a third rail in MAGA politics — efforts at immigration reform. A bipartisan immigration reform bill she introduced last year is suddenly facing an onslaught of criticism from several fellow Republicans. Ms. Salazar — a relatively moderate lawmaker who represents Cuban-dominated Miami — introduced the DIGNIDAD Act, or Dignity Act, in 2025 with the support of Democrats and Republicans. It would create a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants if they have been in the country for at least five years, though those same immigrants would be barred from ever becoming citizens. Depending on the results of a strenuous background check, migrants would be able to receive work authorization status after paying a fine. In return, Democrats agreed to fund enhanced border security measures and provisions which would bar undocumented immigrants from receiving means-tested federal benefits like food stamps or Medicaid, a key criticism of the current system from Republicans. Even though the Dignity Act was introduced last year and Ms. Salazar has been advocating for it ever since, the attacks on her started in earnest only in the last few days.Two weeks ago, she and the Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, held a press conference outside of the Capitol with supporters. Ms. Salazar declared that her bill is the only “serious” and “balanced” solution before Congress which would help solve the problem. On Tuesday, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, Congressman Brandon Gill, went after Mr. Salazar’s bill, accusing his colleague of pushing amnesty for migrants. “The Dignity Act is mass amnesty and would constitute a terrible betrayal of our voters,” Mr. Gill wrote on X Tuesday. Ms. Salazar was quick to respond, writing: “READ. THE. BILL. BEFORE. YOU. OPEN. YOUR. MOUTH.” She accused Mr. Gill of distorting the facts and said he knew “little” about the actual proposal. Ms. Salazar’s bill would protect those migrants admitted into the work status program from deportations, which is what Mr. Gill is most concerned about, he says. “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,” Mr. Gill wrote in response to his colleague. Because migrants admitted after 2020 would not be eligible for work status and because those with serious criminal records would be subject to deportation, Ms. Salazar says that her bill would simply protect the hardworking migrants contributing to the economy. She says if those immigrants who have been in the United States for years are removed, every American would suffer. “Higher costs. Less housing and construction. Strained healthcare and senior care. Broken supply chains. Major economic problems,” Ms. Salazar wrote in another message, warning of the consequences of doing nothing to solve the problem beyond deporting every undocumented migrant present in the United States. “You can keep defending a broken system, or you can fix it for American workers, for our communities, for our future. That’s America First!” she added. According to recent polling, Americans broadly support what Ms. Salazar is proposing, including deporting migrants who have criminal records while creating legal status or a path to citizenship for those who are here with children or those who work and pay taxes. A poll from August, 2025 conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that Americans support Ms. Salazar’s proposed policies by a wide margin. According to that poll, only 30 percent of Americans believe migrants who are working full-time and paying taxes here in the United States should be removed from the country, while 49 percent said they would oppose such deportations. The same poll shows that 37 percent support removing undocumented immigrants with no criminal record, while 45 percent oppose those kinds of removals. Around the same time Mr. Gill went directly at Ms. Salazar, a number of prominent conservatives and immigration hawks started attacking her, without naming Ms. Salazar herself. Even her state’s own governor, Ron DeSantis, wrote “No amnesty!” in response to a news story about the Dignity Act. “Mass Deportations > Mass Amnesty,” Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, wrote on X. “The Dignity Act is a betrayal. NO AMNESTY,” wrote Congressman Andy Ogles, who has proposed repealing the 1965 immigration reform law which abolished the longstanding national quota system for immigration. “NOT NOW, NOT EVER!!! AMERICANS FIRST.”“REMINDER: The so-called “Dignity Act” is a mass amnesty bill, plain and simple. It must be soundly defeated,” Congressman Andrew Clyde, a House Freedom Caucus member, wrote on X. Beyond Capitol Hill, several of the conservative movement’s most prominent commentators are bashing Ms. Salazar. Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles — two podcasters with The Daily Wire — attacked the bill on X. Mr. Knowles urged Ms. Salazar to “take the L” and “move on” from her legislation. Mr. Walsh accused Ms. Salazar of being “a liar and a fraud.”An advisor to President Trump’s 2024 campaign, Alex Bruesewitz, similarly dismissed the legislation. “I read it. Sounds like amnesty. No thanks,” he wrote. Another former advisor to Mr. Trump, Steve Cortes, accused Ms. Salazar of offering “‘de facto’ amnesty” to migrants. “Not only because of principles, but also politics. I have proven, with my extensive polling, that immigration is the ONLY big national winning issue for the GOP right now,” Mr. Cortes wrote on X. “Squish Republicans and Big Business can go pound sand.”The attacks on Ms. Salazar and her GOP co-sponsors are coming not just from well-known figures, but from a flood of social media users, as well. If one were to scroll through her social media accounts, Ms. Salazar is being bombarded with a torrent of negative comments about her legislation. A recent post from her official X account reminding her constituents to come to a passport fair in her district has fewer than 100 likes but more than 500 comments, nearly all of which are negative. One user called Ms. Salazar a “traitorous b****” while other users were tagging Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s and ICE’s X accounts, urging them to be present at Ms. Salazar’s passport fair. Some of the comments since she introduced the bill last year are even darker, with some saying Ms. Salazar herself should be deported. Ms. Salazar was born in the United States to two Cuban exiles. “Denaturalize and deport Maria Elvira Salazar,” wrote Will Chamberlain, a lawyer for the influential Article III Project. “Should we deport Maria Salazar over the Amnesty Act?” Palm Bay, Florida city councilman Chandler Langevin asked in an X poll last summer. “All of them,” popular conservative radio host Jesse Kelly wrote on X in February, explaining how many migrants he wanted removed. “First the rapists. Then the veggie pickers. Then Maria Salazar herself. All of them.”

South Florida GOP Congresswoman’s Immigration Reform Bill Sparks Backlash From Colleagues, Conservative Commentariat

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