Republicans Just Launched An Open Revolt Against Trump’s Deportation Operation

As we approach the six-month mark of Donald Trump’s second term in office, it’s hard to think of another administration in modern history that’s faced more resistance from within — that is to say, resistance from within its own party — when it tries to follow through on its single most important and prominent campaign pledge. Normally, when presidents take office after making an explicit campaign promise, their party tries to turn that agenda into reality. If nothing else, from a political perspective, it’s obviously the smart thing to do. That’s certainly what happened when Joe Biden took office. Every Democrat in the country lined up behind Biden to push every single talking point his administration produced, whether it was about COVID or January 6. There was zero dissent anywhere in the party. But that’s not happening in the second Trump administration.

Instead, many Republicans have set out to undermine the immigration platform that Donald Trump ran on. You probably remember Tom Homan at the Republican National Convention, telling illegal aliens — all of them — that they should start “packing their bags” because they’re going to be deported. As recently as last week, Homan emphasized the importance of that objective, saying there will be no special protections for any illegal aliens, including farmworkers. Top White House official Stephen Miller, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the president himself have all made that same point in the past few days. But Republicans in Congress, and in various states, have taken the opposite approach. They’ve been waging a battle against immigration enforcement. And it’s a more expansive fight than you might realize.

Earlier this month, six Republican lawmakers in California wrote a letter to the president, urging him to suspend immigration raids at workplaces. Separately, a Nebraska congressman named Don Bacon — who’s retiring at the end of his current term — called on Trump to adopt a “balanced” approach to immigration enforcement, one that allows certain illegal aliens to remain in this country if they haven’t committed additional crimes after arriving. In Utah, Republican Governor Spencer Cox has said the same thing. He’s called on ICE to focus on people who are “breaking the law and causing harm,” as he put it. In Washington state, Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse introduced legislation with bipartisan support that would grant temporary legal status to farm workers, even if they arrived in this country illegally. In fact, even if the farmworkers have committed additional crimes after entering the United States, they could still qualify for legal status, as long as they haven’t committed felonies or “two misdemeanors involving moral turpitude.” So we’re granting legal status to people who have committed multiple crimes in this country, as long as they haven’t committed too many of them.

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Meanwhile, Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson (another Republican) just wrote an op-ed in which he stated, “Our focus should remain on deporting dangerous criminals, not law-abiding farmers and ranchers. Let me be clear: making meaningful reforms to the H-2A visa program and establishing a strong, legal immigration workforce for agricultural producers is not an amnesty deal. Our country needs a stable labor force to protect our food supply and ensure farmers can continue to do their jobs.”

Along the same lines, the Republican in charge of the agriculture committee, G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania, recently said that ICE raids on farms and packing plants are “just wrong,” and that ICE should “knock it off.” As Thompson put it, “Let’s go after the criminals and give us time to put processes in place so we don’t disrupt the food supply chain.”

Yes, we have multiple prominent Republicans declaring that illegal aliens are not, in fact, criminals. That people can be “law abiding” even if their first act upon entering the country was to break the law. It would be one thing if these Republican lawmakers said, “Yes, illegal aliens are criminals, even if they work on farms. But we shouldn’t deport them anyway, because my constituents love cheap labor and I don’t care about American workers, even though I’m supposed to represent the interests of Americans.” That would at least be honest. To be very clear about this: Any Republican who pretends that illegal aliens aren’t actually criminals — anyone who talks like G.T. Thompson or Mike Simpson —  does not believe that we have a country. They aren’t simply undermining the Trump administration. They’re undermining the entire nation, fundamentally.

And this isn’t a fringe sentiment on the Right. We’re not talking about one or two members of Congress here, who happen to represent states that have a lot of illegal farmworkers. There is now a growing nationwide movement among Republican politicians to sabotage the White House’s immigration agenda — an agenda that won the popular vote and every swing state. At the moment, the biggest threat comes from Florida Congresswoman Maria Salazar, who’s just introduced something called the “Dignity Act.” Here’s Maria Salazar to explain:

GOP Rep. Maria Salazar: "There is another mass of people, most of them Hispanics, who have been here for more than five years contributing to the economy, who do not have a criminal record, and those people deserve some type of dignity and deserve to stay." pic.twitter.com/o5t6oXd3G9

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 15, 2025

She starts by celebrating the Trump administration’s victory on the southern border, and how it’s great that we’re finally enforcing immigration law. And then, in the same breath, she talks about how important it is to grant “legal status” to tens of millions of foreign nationals who broke our laws by crossing that border. It’s a bit like telling your child that stealing is wrong, and then giving him $10,000 because he got away with stealing. In that scenario, they’re going to get the message that stealing is the most rational course of action. This shouldn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway: people respond to incentives. And the incentive that Maria Salazar’s bill would create is pretty clear. She’s saying that, if you manage to enter this country, then you’ll be rewarded. And as much as she claims this isn’t “amnesty,” the fact remains that her legislation would grant legal status — which is renewable, indefinitely — to tens of millions of illegal aliens. As long as they’ve been here for more than five years, and haven’t committed any heinous crimes that we know of, then she’s going to grant them legal status. And for good measure, her bill throws in “permanent residency” status for so-called “Dreamers,” who entered this country illegally as children. We’ll get into the specifics of the bill in a moment, but those are the top-line items.

According to Maria Salazar, all of this makes sense because illegals “deserve” to stay here, and that we should allow them to stay in the name of “dignity.” Those were the exact words she used. It’s all very trite, and of course, we’re not supposed to actually think about what she’s saying. But I’ll go ahead and do that anyway, because her legislation has serious implications, even if Maria Salazar herself isn’t a remotely serious person. So here’s the relevant question: If foreigners “deserve” to disregard our laws, what laws do I, as an American citizen, deserve to disregard? Do I deserve to not pay my taxes? Ignore speed limits? Shoplift? When do I get my “dignity”? Or is this an entitlement reserved only for foreign nationals? Why exactly are we awarding these people — who have no right to be in this country at all — a “get out of jail free” card, while American citizens are currently being hassled by the IRS for failing to report their $600 Venmo payment?  She says that these illegal aliens have worked hard, and lived here for a long time. And that’s probably true for some of them. But there are a lot of American citizens who have worked hard too. And they’ve lived here for a lot longer. So what’s their payout? A free DUI? A hall pass to punch their annoying boss? What do they get, and when do they get it?

Once you start granting exemptions to laws — particularly some of the most important laws on the books, like the laws that define our national borders — then you have to answer questions like this. This isn’t complicated or even controversial. Again, most Americans voted for Donald Trump precisely because he would enforce the law, regardless of whatever sob stories the Left could dream up. It’s a good bet that, for most of these voters, it seemed hard to imagine that the Right would be coming up with those sob stories instead. But that’s exactly what’s happening. Here’s another Republican, a guy named Gabe Evans. He represents a district in Colorado. This is his pitch for the so-called “Dignity Act”:

As the grandson of immigrants, I believe in protecting our nation and the American Dream.

I’m proud to help introduce the Dignity Act, which helps secure our border and gives positively contributing immigrants in our communities a path to stay. pic.twitter.com/c1xf2hscpQ

— Congressman Gabe Evans (@repgabeevans) July 16, 2025

Notice he sort of buries the whole amnesty thing towards the end of his pitch. He begins by saying that this legislation will actually secure the border, although it doesn’t do that. Congress just passed a massive spending bill that allocates huge amounts of money — tens of billions of dollars — to improve border security. By contrast, this “Dignity Act” creates something called “humanitarian campuses” all along the border. According to one summary of the legislation, when they arrive at these campuses, “Migrants would have access to medical staff, licensed social workers, mental health professionals, child advocates, and private organizations that provide humanitarian assistance and legal counsel.” Yes, the “Dignity Act” would fund legal counsel and mental healthcare professionals for illegal aliens. That’s their idea of “securing the border.”

But actually, it gets a lot worse than that. As the lawyer Will Chamberlain pointed out, the “Dignity Act” — by its own terms — is so expansive that it would grant legal status to some of the most dangerous and depraved criminals in this country. Consider the case of Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 member and wife beater who was the subject of so much Democrat angst in recent weeks. Under the “Dignity Act,” Abrego Garcia would be entitled to legal status in this country. That’s because he entered this country when he was 16 years old, and the bill bans federal and state law enforcement from using databases to determine whether someone is a gang member. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s in the bill. Here’s what that section looks like:

It reads, “EVIDENTIARY LIMITATION: Allegations of gang membership obtained from a State or Federal in-house or local database, or a network of databases used for the purposes of recording and sharing activities of alleged gang members across law enforcement agencies, shall not establish the participation described in such paragraph.”

So it doesn’t matter that law enforcement officers recorded Abrego Garcia’s gang clothing or associations in a database. None of that can be used. Additionally, because Abrego Garcia was merely accused of domestic violence, instead of convicted of it, he wouldn’t be barred under this bill.

That’s because, as you can see here, the law only excludes convicted felons, or illegal aliens convicted of two or more misdemeanors, excluding cannabis-related crimes for some reason. So even if your wife keeps claiming that you beat her, it doesn’t matter.

And while Abrego Garcia’s suspected human trafficking might theoretically be an issue, the bill still allows the DHS secretary to allow him into the country “for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or because the waiver is otherwise in the public interest.” Let’s put that on the screen.

This is what’s known as a loophole. By itself, this provision should be enough to kill this bill immediately. Just imagine how a Democrat DHS secretary would interpret that provision. It’s amnesty, in every sense. All Abrego Garcia would have to do is enroll in some educational program, and he’d qualify for legal status under this bill. And it gets worse, somehow. Take a look at this provision, which was spotted by Walter Curt.

It reads, “LIMITATION ON REMOVAL.—An alien who appears to be prima facie eligible for relief under this division shall be given a reasonable opportunity to apply for such relief and may not be removed until … a final decision establishing ineligibility for relief is rendered.” In other words, ICE has to stand down if someone could potentially qualify under this legislation for “legal status.” As soon as they file the paperwork — or even before that — ICE’s hands are tied. This would obviously create a major logjam and completely paralyze immigration enforcement, which is the whole point.

This is an abomination. And Maria Salazar can’t explain any of it. Here’s what she said on NBC the other day. Watch:

So the new rule is that, even if you break the law, that’s not a big deal if “someone gave you a job” and that job is “still needed today.” That’s the argument. And at the moment, 10 Republicans in Congress have co-sponsored this legislation. They include Mario Rafael Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mike Lawler of New York, David Valadao of California, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Gabe Evans of Colorado, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Young Kim of California.

None of these lawmakers should ever receive another Republican vote, for any reason, ever again. Their goal, very clearly, is to use the president’s success at the border as cover to advance amnesty. They are advancing foreign interests and the demands of a small number of business owners who profit from illegal labor, instead of the interests of this country. The White House should respond by investigating every single one of the farm owners who are pushing this bill, because the odds are about 1,000 percent that they’re employing illegal aliens instead of American citizens. In order for this country to continue to exist, laws against foreign invaders must be enforced. There cannot be any exceptions. Republican voters understand that, which is why Donald Trump won the last election. Now, the Republicans who are seeking to undermine this administration and the will of the voters need to be removed from office. Don Bacon is already resigning in Nebraska. That’s a start. Now, every single co-sponsor of this abominable legislation, and every other Republican who voices even a word of support for it, should be run out of office as well.