DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025
- Bill Number
- H.R. 4393
- Origin Chamber
- House
- Congress
- 119th Congress, Session 1
- Policy Area
- Immigration
- Status
- Introduced
- Latest Action
- 2025-07-16: Referred to the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement.
- Last Updated
- 2026-05-16T08:07:19Z
AI-Generated Summary
Purpose of the Legislation The bill, titled the "Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2025" (DIGNIDAD Act), seeks to strengthen border security, reform asylum and enforcement processes, create pathways to legal status for certain long-term residents, expand legal immigration, and direct funds from new programs toward American worker training.
Key Provisions
- Division A (Border Security for America): Requires expanded physical barriers, technology, and infrastructure along the southern border; mandates minimum flight hours for Customs and Border Protection air operations; creates a National Border Security Advisory Committee; improves agent training, pay, and technology use; establishes a body-worn camera pilot; limits enforcement at sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals; funds port-of-entry modernization; increases penalties for smuggling, illegal reentry, and child trafficking; mandates nationwide E-Verify for employment eligibility; and reforms asylum through "humanitarian campuses" for processing, expedited interviews, Western Hemisphere screening facilities, and new fraud penalties.
- Division B (Dignity and American Dream): Provides conditional permanent residency for certain individuals who entered as children (Dream Act provisions) with requirements for education, military service, or work; creates a 7-year "Dignity Program" for other long-term undocumented residents involving fees, work or study requirements, and community reporting, leading to renewable "Dignity Status" with work and travel authorization; directs program fees to worker training grants via industry partnerships.
- Division C (American Prosperity and Competitiveness): Grants discretionary authority to immigration officials for family unity cases involving U.S. citizens; reduces visa backlogs by exempting long-waiting applicants and raising per-country limits; protects children from aging out of eligibility; allows spouses and children of certain workers to obtain status; treats STEM doctoral degrees as evidence of extraordinary ability; and modernizes student visas while increasing agency resources for processing.
Significant Changes to Existing Law
- Mandates E-Verify for all employers, replacing voluntary systems and prior pilot programs.
- Introduces new legal statuses (conditional residency and Dignity Status) and processing facilities not previously codified.
- Raises per-country visa caps from 7% to 15% and exempts long-delayed applicants from numerical limits.
- Expands waiver authority for certain inadmissibility grounds in family cases and creates age protections for dependents of workers.
- Strengthens criminal penalties for reentry, smuggling, and asylum fraud while adding new restrictions on removal proceedings.
Potential Impacts
- Government Agencies: Increases responsibilities and funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Labor; requires new interagency coordination for humanitarian campuses and screening abroad.
- Citizens: May affect labor markets through mandatory employment verification and new worker training programs; could influence border communities through infrastructure and enforcement changes.
- International Relations: Involves cooperation with Mexico and Central American nations for screening facilities and could affect cross-border trade and migration flows.
Main Stakeholders Affected
- Undocumented immigrants, including those who entered as children and long-term residents.
- Employers required to use E-Verify.
- Legal immigrants facing visa backlogs.
- U.S. citizen family members of immigrants.
- Border security personnel, landowners, and communities.
- State and local governments involved in enforcement or training programs.
Notable Legal, Constitutional, or Political Implications
- Expands executive discretion in family-based cases, potentially raising due process questions in removal and asylum proceedings.
- Creates new immigration statuses and fee structures tied to specific funds for infrastructure and debt reduction.
- Includes bipartisan sponsorship but addresses contested areas such as border barriers and mandatory employment verification.
- Requires background checks, biometric data, and compliance with existing inadmissibility rules with limited waivers.
This summary was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the official source document for the authoritative text.
Sponsor
Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27]
Cosponsors (39)
Rep. Escobar, Veronica [D-TX-16], Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17], Rep. Espaillat, Adriano [D-NY-13], Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22], Rep. Scholten, Hillary J. [D-MI-3], Rep. Newhouse, Dan [R-WA-4], Rep. Lee, Susie [D-NV-3], Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16], Rep. Gray, Adam [D-CA-13], Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1], Rep. Carbajal, Salud O. [D-CA-24], Rep. Evans, Gabe [R-CO-8], Rep. Levin, Mike [D-CA-49], Rep. Stutzman, Marlin A. [R-IN-3], Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13], Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2], Rep. Gillen, Laura [D-NY-4], Rep. Kim, Young [R-CA-40], Rep. Auchincloss, Jake [D-MA-4], Rep. Diaz-Balart, Mario [R-FL-26], Rep. Trahan, Lori [D-MA-3], Rep. Baird, James R. [R-IN-4], Rep. Suozzi, Thomas R. [D-NY-3], Rep. Smucker, Lloyd [R-PA-11], Rep. Ryan, Patrick [D-NY-18], Del. King-Hinds, Kimberlyn [R-MP-At Large], Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1], Del. Moylan, James C. [R-GU-At Large], Rep. Sykes, Emilia Strong [D-OH-13], Rep. De La Cruz, Monica [R-TX-15], Rep. Costa, Jim [D-CA-21], Rep. LaLota, Nick [R-NY-1], Rep. Cuellar, Henry [D-TX-28], Rep. Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2], Rep. Houlahan, Chrissy [D-PA-6], Rep. Kiggans, Jennifer A. [R-VA-2], Rep. Ansari, Yassamin [D-AZ-3], Rep. Nunn, Zachary [R-IA-3], Rep. McCollum, Betty [D-MN-4]
Recent Actions
- 2025-07-16: Referred to the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 2025-07-15: Introduced in House
- 2025-07-15: Introduced in House
Bill Versions
- Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2025 — issued 2025-07-15 — PDF (261 pages)