Right-wing social media and commentary last week was dominated by infighting and outrage over the Dignity Act, a bipartisan immigration reform bill — and it seemed to come out of nowhere.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), the designer of the compromise measure that pairs border security boosts with a new legal status for non-criminal migrants who entered before 2021, publicly sparred with critics of her legislation. Those hardline conservatives — numerous Republican members of Congress, influential commentators and conservative social media accounts — fumed for most of the last week about Republicans embracing what they deemed to be “amnesty” (which Salazar disputed).
But the bill is not new. It was first introduced years ago, and re-introduced last year. It is nowhere near having a markup, let alone a vote, and has essentially no chance of advancing in the current Congress. It has no buy-in from leadership.
I, and others on Capitol Hill and beyond with whom I chatted about the uproar, were left wondering: Why is this even a thing?
The episode is indicative of a frequent freak-out dynamic on the right, in which the most hardline purists take charge to beat down those in their own party seen as “squishy” on an issue.
Influencers and Republican members have posted criticisms of the Dignity Act from time to time, without it ever turning into a multi-day focus. But this time, there seems to have been just the perfect storm of an opening in the news cycle combined with pent-up frustration from Republicans over immigration enforcement.
What seemed to have sparked the uproar this time was cosponsor Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) advocating for the bill in a weekend Fox News appearance. Host Brian Kilmeade commented that he thought Trump could be open to the bill, saying the president had told him he would be interested in “long-term work visas” for migrants.
A few conservative accounts picked up on the interview. Conservative influencer Mila Joy had posted the exact same language slamming “RINOs in Congress” who support the Dignity Act multiple times over the last year, but it really got traction last week after the Lawler interview. A wave of influencers followed.
The uproar came at a time when Congress was out of session, and accelerated after a ceasefire was announced with Iran on Tuesday night, and there was a lull in the news cycle.
And taking aim at the Dignity Act is a way for conservatives who have pent-up frustration over the Trump administration delivering on mass deportations and how an off-ramp for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown is being handled to blow off steam without criticizing President Trump or Republican leadership directly.
Public sparring on social media between Salazar and other members like Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) kept the controversy going, as did more TV appearances.
Lawler returned to Fox on Laura Ingraham’s show for what the host said from the top would “not be a fun interview,” with the segment largely devolving into crosstalk as Ingraham repeatedly asserted Lawler was misrepresenting his own bill.
Inghram had Gill on as a guest the following night, where he argued the Dignity Act was an “unforgivable political betrayal” of those who voted for Trump.
The big question: Is the uproar leading to political consequences for the bill’s cosponsors, or dimming prospects for the bill?
Well, the office of one cosponsor told me that while there was an uptick in constituent interactions over the Dignity Act due to the social media backlash, it was much lower than inquiries about the Iran war and DHS funding, and lower than a typical uptick that coincides with top news items.
There might be some more action on the issue with lawmakers back in town this week. Salazar told me in an interview that she plans to reach out to Gill directly to talk to him about the legislation, and she is having a press conference with the National Association of Manufacturers in support of the bill later this week.
And underlying tension between moderate Republicans aiming to combat a decline in support for the GOP among the Hispanic and Latino and hard-line immigration restrictionists is not going away any time soon.
Further reading on the details: Sudden GOP infighting explodes over bipartisan immigration reform bill, by me and my colleague Rebecca Beitsch… Why MAGA has a problem with Maria, by Ali Biano in Politico…
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