Steve Cortes calls it like he sees it.
The longtime Trump advisor and head of the League of American Workers unloaded on Rep. María Elvira Salazar’s Dignidad Act, torching it as open borders nonsense dressed up in compassionate language.
His bottom line: it’s amnesty. Period.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts agreed. He didn’t mince words either – calling the bill a nonstarter.
Salazar, a Florida Republican, rolled out the Dignidad Act in 2025 with a handful of Democrats in tow.
The pitch: tighten border security while handing legal status to millions who entered illegally before 2021.
Supporters say it requires background checks, fines, and back taxes. They insist it’s not amnesty. They say it fixes a broken system.
Critics say it’s a slap in the face to the voters who handed Republicans their mandate
They argue the bill rewards illegal entry and spits in the face of Americans who demanded real enforcement.
The Blaze was even blunter – calling it a complete betrayal of Republican voters.
The fear isn’t just philosophical. Critics warn it sends a green light to the next wave: break the rules now, get a break later.
The Polling Blows Up the Old Narrative
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Cortes didn’t just vent. He came loaded with data – and it demolishes the tired media line that Hispanic voters want soft borders.
A 2022 Trafalgar Group poll found roughly two-thirds of Hispanic Americans wanted Biden to close the border entirely.
That was the highest support of any demographic group.
In Texas, a 2024 survey of Latino voters showed 71 percent backed tightening border security with more technology, infrastructure, and Border Patrol personnel.
Even old Washington Post polling showed Hispanic Americans with the highest support for an immigration moratorium – above every other group.
Cortes has been pushing these numbers for years. The data doesn’t lie: Hispanic citizens aren’t asking for open borders. They never were.
Nevada Families Feel It Every Day
This isn’t abstract in Nevada.
The state has a large and growing Hispanic population, concentrated in the service industries around Las Vegas and Reno.
These are working families who see the real-world fallout of porous borders up close – overcrowded schools, strained hospitals, tight housing, and wages that get squeezed when employers can undercut legal workers with cheaper illegal labor.
Add drugs and crime filtering through and the picture gets darker fast.
Governor Joe Lombardo has pushed back.
Nevada moved away from the Democrats’ sanctuary-style policies and stepped up cooperation with federal enforcement.
Hispanic voters here, like elsewhere, are voting on law and order – and they’re doing it in growing numbers.
Battleground state polling showed a significant Latino shift toward Republicans in recent cycles.
Immigration enforcement wasn’t a liability. It was a draw.
The GOP Fault Line
The Dignidad Act exposes the tension tearing at the Republican Party.
One camp wants a deal – bipartisan cover, some border fixes, a path forward for long-term residents.
The other camp says the 2024 mandate couldn’t have been clearer: secure the border, no amnesty, no exceptions.
The bill does offer real enforcement provisions – more barriers, E-Verify, additional resources.
But legalizing millions who arrived before 2021 is where critics pump the brakes hard.
Vetting that many people is a logistical nightmare.
And the message it sends undercuts everything – fairness to those who waited legally, accountability for those who didn’t, and credibility for the next round of promises.
Supporters argue it pays for itself with fees and keeps industries running.
Conservatives counter that real reform starts with enforcement first. You don’t negotiate away the rule of law to fix the mess it created.
Cortes has spent years doing outreach to working-class voters, including Hispanic ones.
His message is simple and consistent: Hispanic citizens want what most Americans want – safe neighborhoods, good jobs, and a government that respects the rule of law.
The polling keeps proving him right.
Leaders who cut Washington deals that look like the old open-borders playbook aren’t just risking a policy mistake.
They’re burning the trust they worked hard to earn – with the very voters they can least afford to lose.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
