Should Christians Embrace the Dignity Act?

Florida representative Maria Salazar has enjoyed a few more minutes of fame after proposing the Dignity Act on July 15. The bill, intensely defended as being definitively “not amnesty,” would essentially levy a small fine ($7,000 over 7 years) to all those living illegally in the US who entered before January 1st, 2021. Rep. Salazar leaned heavily on Christian rhetoric when introducing the legislation, proclaiming: 

“President Trump, sir, the same God who saved you from death in Pennsylvania one year ago… is the same God who millions and millions are begging you for some kind of dignity.” 

Rep. Salazar’s invocation of “dignity” does not seem to be swaying the large swaths of the country that elected President Trump specifically to complete the “largest deportation operation in history,” but it does seem to have worked on the usual suspects. While the ink was still dry and the cameras were still cooling down, the Evangelical Immigration Table released a statement urging members to “consider the newly-reintroduced Dignity Act” because it “aligns with the priorities of evangelical Christians.” The evangelicals in question are a series of progressive-leaning organizations, such as World Relief, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

Also notably present in the statement were two explicitly ethnic organizations, the “Asian American Christian Collaborative” and “National Latino Evangelical Coalition.” The presence of these organizations meshes well with the Ecuadorian flag prominently present behind Rep. Salazar as she made her speech. Clearly, the Dignity Act has an explicit concern for the interests of foreign countries and groups within the US that identify based on their foreign qualities.

ERLC: “Nothing to See Here”

As conservative evangelical organizations were quick to point out the ERLC’s complicity in promoting what amounts to amnesty, the Southern Baptist think tank released a statement clarifying its stance: 

“The ERLC has never supported amnesty and never will. The ERLC has consistently advocated for policies that reflect the will of SBC messengers who have, for over a decade, supported strong border security and other measures, including a pathway to legal status for those willing to follow appropriate restitutionary processes. This is not amnesty, which requires nothing of those who receive the benefit.” 

The ERLC’s post on X went on to cite several resolutions from the SBC throughout the years that indicate support for “providing a pathway to legal status with appropriate restitutionary measures.” 
The ERLC’s record of leftwing funding, progressive advocacy, suppression of vital information, and “showing up late to the party” at crucial times is well documented. But the important question in regard to the Dignity Act is: Does this legislation actually meet biblical standards for justice and morality? Or, put more succinctly: Does the Dignity Act actually promote dignity?

What is “Dignity?”

In the Old Testament, the word hadar is translated as “dignity” several places, but also is translated in the King James Bible as “beauty,” “comeliness,” “excellency,” “glorious,” “glory,” “goodly,” “honour,” and “majesty.” In English, the word “dignity” comes from two Latin words, dignis (“worth”) and dek (“to take/accept”), thus roughly meaning “to accept worth.” In applying this concept to the current immigration/deportation crisis, the posture of the pro-amnesty players is to “take the high ground” by utilizing terms like this one to paint the opposition as cruel, cold, and heartless. In their view, one side supports the Christian understanding of “love your neighbor as yourself” and “show mercy to the sojourner,” while the other side is steeped in unenlightened cruelty. 

What is consistently missing from organizations like the ERLC’s push for the legalization of masses of unlawfully present foreign nationals is any urgency to deal with the security and well-being of US citizens. To be sure, there is always some language concerning “strong border security,” but there is never any concern for the incredible theft that’s been committed by illegal immigrants against Americans. The Dignity Act is a prime example of this bait and switch.

Reasonable Resitution?

There are several offerings within the Dignity Act designed to make it more attractive to those who are concerned about illegal immigration (requiring E-Verify for employers, adding funding to border security), but they aren’t anything that hasn’t been rolled into other amnesty proposals. 

The nuts and bolts of the Dignity Act essentially amount to all illegal immigrants who entered the country before 2021 being offered a “legal status” if they enroll in the “Dignity Program.”

The Dignity Program would require illegal immigrants to pay $7,000 in fines over a 7-year period, pay taxes (and potentially pay back taxes, but there appears to be a loophole here), enroll in public health care, refrain from taking certain federal entitlements, and report to the Department of Homeland Security every two years.

The Dignity Act advocates claim that the bill would provide accountability for illegal immigrants, at the very least, doling out a “slap on the wrist.” But the path laid out by the bill appears to be much closer to a gentle tap while giving a shoulder massage. The amount of funding from healthcare costs alone (healthcare entitlements being a primary driver for many illegal immigrants) outpaces the fines to be paid by orders of magnitude. This reality doesn’t even begin to take into account the immense costs of education, transportation, public works, and local/national security. 

If this is “reasonable restitution,” then “unreasonable restitution” must be state-funded housing, transportation, and businesses for illegal immigrants.

Why This Matters

American Christians who love their country and want to hand off even a slightly functional version of it to their children have been pushed and bullied for years over their desire for a secure, just, biblical system of immigration/border policy. The Bible’s teachings concerning the duties and responsibilities of the state are crystal clear, and ought not to be circumvented by vague platitudes designed to shame those who simply want to live in an actual country where rights and responsibilities are passed from one generation to the next.  

Christians who are illegally present in the US need to come to terms with the reality of their situation. They’ve violated fundamental biblical teachings and should come to a place of repentance and real restitution. They ought also to generate the same care and concern they place on their economic betterment for their homelands and peoples. 

The Dignity Act is just another in a long train of proposed abuses against the American nation. As with similar proposals, Christian Americans need not be manipulated by goals of self-serving individuals and organizations, like the Evangelical Immigration Table. 

Injustice dressed in the language of justice is still injustice, and need not be entertained.