By David L. Snelling

Miami – President Donald Trump’s massive illegal immigration crackdown is the cornerstone of his presidency including stripping migrants’ right to stay in America.

But a bipartisan effort is countering Trump’s immigration policy with a proposed bill to allow immigrants the opportunity to live and work in the United States legally.

The Dignity Act of 2025 is like the President Biden-era humanitarian parole program which allowed millions of migrants to work and live in America for two years, only if they have a financial sponsor.

The latest proposal would grant migrants a seven-year temporary legal status allowing immigrants to live and work legally, but it comes with certain conditions.

The seven-year temporary legal status is offered only to immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for five or more years, requires them to pass a criminal background check and pay $7,000 in restitution over the sevenyear period.

In addition, immigrants will not receive federal benefits or entitlements, and the program doesn’t offer a path to citizenship.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (DTexas), one of the bill’s cosponsors, said the Act bolsters humanity and security at the border.

“The Dignity Act of 2025 offers a balanced approach that restores dignity to people who have tried to navigate a broken system for far too long,” she told reporters.

State Rep. Maria Salazar, a Republican from Miami, concurs.

“The Dignity Act of 2025 is a revolutionary bill that offers the solution to our immigration crisis: secure the border, stop illegal immigration, and provide an earned opportunity for long-term immigrants to stay here and work,” said Salazar.

Trump’s undocumented immigrant’s crackdown operation is gripping the nation, as over 135,000 migrants were reportedly deported by ICE in 2025.

To bolster his operation, Trump deployed the military to help ICE with raids around the U.S. to capture, detain and remove immigrants to their homelands or other countries where authorities agreed to take them.

Trump has sent troops to fight crime in Washington, California and Chicago, but critics say it’s a ruse to round up more immigrants and deport them.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, pushed back on Trump’s plan to send the National Guard to his city.

“There is no “emergency” unfolding in Chicago that would justify such a move,” Pritzker said. “It’s all a big show on Trump’s part.”

A federal court ruled last week that the Trump administration broke a federal law when the president sent the National Guard to Los Angeles in June to quell protests over immigration raids.

In addition, federal courts are chipping away at Trump’s immigration crackdown operation.

Federal judges stymied Trump’s attempt to strip the legal status of millions of Haitians, Cubans, Venezuleans and Nicaraguans who were part of the Biden-era humanitarian parole program.

Also, a federal court restored deportation protection for the same immigration populations until April of 2026.

But last week, the First Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s decision and said the Trump administration has the authority to end the humanitarian parole program which allowed 430,000 migrants from Cuba,

Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work in the U.S. for two years.

Trump signed an executive order to end their Temporary Protection Status (TPS) in 2025, for the same migrant populations which allowed them to come to the U.S. legally because they were experiencing political upheaval and the effects of natural disasters in their home countries.

Legal experts warned that Trump’s policy could mark one of the most extensive mass removals of legal immigrants in modern U.S. history.

Jeff Wasden, president of the business advocacy group State Business Executives, said the Trump administration has done well in securing the border and proposals like the Dignity Act are the next step to capitalize on economic growth from legal immigration pathways.

“Let’s keep focusing on the next important issues that impact communities and the business sectors and industries so critically,” Wasden said.

Despite bipartisan support, the bill is a long shot.

A similar proposal in 2023 did not receive a vote.