Press ReleaseBipartisan2026-05-11

Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar's bipartisan immigration bill draws GOP support - and backlash

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This press release from Representative Veronica Escobar (D-TX) was published on 2026-05-11 and titled "Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar's bipartisan immigration bill draws GOP support - and backlash".

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Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar's bipartisan immigration bill draws GOP support - and backlash

Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar's bipartisan immigration bill draws GOP support - and backlash The latest version of the El Paso Democrat ’ s Dignity Act includes a key change to make it more palatable to Republicans. Some have gotten on board, but others are firmly opposed . By Gabby Birenbaum WASHINGTON — When Democrats took control of Washington after the 2020 election, Rep. Veronica Escobar thought comprehensive immigration reform was within reach. It didn’t work out that way. The El Paso Democrat helped craft a bill party leaders introduced at the start of Joe Biden’s term to create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country. But the Democratic legislation never got enough buy-in within the party and was deemed a non-starter by Republicans. The episode was instructive for Escobar, who succeeded Beto O’Rourke in Congress halfway through Donald Trump’s first term and, in short order, made her name as an authority on immigration among House Democrats. “It was a real wake-up call for me on the politics within my own party,” Escobar said. “It really was during that first two years of the Biden administration that I realized, No. 1, we’re not going to get this done as a Democratic-only bill. No. 2, it really is going to need to be bipartisan if it’s going to stick. And No. 3, I think we’re going to lose elections because of immigration.” After Republicans rode the issue to a House majority in 2022, Escobar changed tack. She teamed up with Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Cuban American who represents a heavily Hispanic district anchored in Miami, to write an immigration reform bill called the Dignidad, or Dignity, Act. Crafted “in some respects in secret” to avoid momentum-sapping backlash, Escobar said, the compromise that emerged included a pathway to work and travel authorization for long-term undocumented residents and a mandate for employers to check staffers’ work authorization status. They re-introduced the bill last year, with a key change to make it more palatable to Republicans, as the political battlefield on immigration was veering from the now-quiet border to Trump’s mass deportation push. In turn, the new Dignity Act has sparked an emerging debate that reflects the shifting political realities for both parties around immigration. Democrats, acknowledging that some Biden-era immigration policies were out of step with the electorate, reined in a key sticking point of the bill’s prior version by removing the pathway to citizenship beyond DACA recipients. Yet, there would still be a way for undocumented immigrants to get temporary legal status, a point that’s the crux of the GOP’s disjointed response to the bill. What emerges is a picture of an uneasy Republican coalition in which business leaders, grassroots conservatives and the Hispanic voters who helped power Trump’s 2024 victory all lack alignment on how to proceed. Through the careful building of a coalition — Escobar and Salazar only let cosponsors join in bipartisan pairs — the Dignity Act is now up to 40 cosponsors, half in each party. In Texas, that includes Rep. Henry Cuellar , D-Laredo, and Rep. Monica De La Cruz , R-Edinburg, both in the moderate wings of their party. But at the same time, the Dignity Act has unearthed a wave of conservative opposition, led by a fellow Texan, Flower Mound freshman Rep. Brandon Gill . Gill has been the tip of the spear in the pressure campaign against the bill, calling it a betrayal of conservative values and tantamount to offering amnesty, a dead letter in the GOP. “The glue that held that [2024 GOP] coalition together was the mass deportation message that we ran on, because that is something that — particularly for working-class voters — resonates,” Gill said. “Because they’re the ones whose communities are being transformed. They’re the ones whose wages are being suppressed or whose jobs are being taken by this mass influx of illegal aliens that Democrats, by the way, created.” To that end, Gill, an emerging force in the GOP, has sparred with Salazar about the bill on social media and made a point of endorsing candidates in Republican primaries who share his commitment to a more hardline immigration policy. The Dignity Act doesn’t have support from GOP House leadership, and has no obvious pathway to passage at the moment. But despite the backlash, Escobar still sees a window — though narrow — for action, especially as Trump’s polling on immigration slips. “There is an acknowledgment from the [Republican] side that the status quo cannot remain,” Escobar said. “I do think this is the moment. If we don’t get it done before August recess, it’s going to be really hard to get it done in the future.” What’s in the bill For decades, the basis of any immigration compromise has been a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants — a priority for many Democrats — in exchange for heightened border security, a Republican priority, a

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Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar's bipartisan immigration bill draws GOP support - and backlash Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar's bipartisan immigration bill draws GOP support - and backlash The latest version of the El Paso Democrat ’ s Dignity Act includes a key change to make it more palatable to Republicans. Some have gotten on board, but others are firmly opposed . By Gabby Birenbaum WASHINGTON — When Democrats took control of Washington after the 2020 election, Rep. Veronica Escobar thought comprehensive immigration reform was within reach. It didn’t work out that way. The El Paso Democrat helped craft a bill party leaders introduced at the start of Joe Biden’s term to create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country. But the Democratic legislation never got enough buy-in within the party and was deemed a non-starter by Republicans. The episode was instructive for Escobar, who succeeded Beto O’Rourke in Congress halfway through Donald Trump’s first term and, in short order, made her name as an authority on immigration among House Democrats. “It was a real wake-up call for me on the politics within my own party,” Escobar said. “It really was during that first two years of the Biden administration that I realized, No. 1, we’re not going to get this done as a Democratic-only bill. No. 2, it really is going to need to be bipartisan if it’s going to stick. And No. 3, I think we’re going to lose elections because of immigration.” After Republicans rode the issue to a House majority in 2022, Escobar changed tack. She teamed up with Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Cuban American who represents a heavily Hispanic district anchored in Miami, to write an immigration reform bill called the Dignidad, or Dignity, Act. Crafted “in some respects in secret” to avoid momentum-sapping backlash, Escobar said, the compromise that emerged included a pathway to work and travel authorization for long-term undocumented residents and a mandate for employers to check staffers’ work authorization status. They re-introduced the bill last year, with a key change to make it more palatable to Republicans, as the political battlefield on immigration was veering from the now-quiet border to Trump’s mass deportation push. In turn, the new Dignity Act has sparked an emerging debate that reflects the shifting political realities for both parties around immigration. Democrats, acknowledging that some Biden-era immigration policies were out of step with the electorate, reined in a key sticking point of the bill’s prior version by removing the pathway to citizenship beyond DACA recipients. Yet, there would still be a way for undocumented immigrants to get temporary legal status, a point that’s the crux of the GOP’s disjointed response to the bill. What emerges is a picture of an uneasy Republican coalition in which business leaders, grassroots conservatives and the Hispanic voters who helped power Trump’s 2024 victory all lack alignment on how to proceed. Through the careful building of a coalition — Escobar and Salazar only let cosponsors join in bipartisan pairs — the Dignity Act is now up to 40 cosponsors, half in each party. In Texas, that includes Rep. Henry Cuellar , D-Laredo, and Rep. Monica De La Cruz , R-Edinburg, both in the moderate wings of their party. But at the same time, the Dignity Act has unearthed a wave of conservative opposition, led by a fellow Texan, Flower Mound freshman Rep. Brandon Gill . Gill has been the tip of the spear in the pressure campaign against the bill, calling it a betrayal of conservative values and tantamount to offering amnesty, a dead letter in the GOP. “The glue that held that [2024 GOP] coalition together was the mass deportation message that we ran on, because that is something that — particularly for working-class voters — resonates,” Gill said. “Because they’re the ones whose communities are being transformed. They’re the ones whose wages are being suppressed or whose jobs are being taken by this mass influx of illegal aliens that Democrats, by the way, created.” To that end, Gill, an emerging force in the GOP, has sparred with Salazar about the bill on social media and made a point of endorsing candidates in Republican primaries who share his commitment to a more hardline immigration policy. The Dignity Act doesn’t have support from GOP House leadership, and has no obvious pathway to passage at the moment. But despite the backlash, Escobar still sees a window — though narrow — for action, especially as Trump’s polling on immigration slips. “There is an acknowledgment from the [Republican] side that the status quo cannot remain,” Escobar said. “I do think this is the moment. If we don’t get it done before August recess, it’s going to be really hard to get it done in the future.” What’s in the bill For decades, the basis of any immigration compromise has been a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants — a priority for many Democrats — in exchange for heightened border security, a Republican priority, a