A recent national survey found that current immigration enforcement policies are increasingly harming American citizens and putting their families at risk. It identified the Dignity Act as the solution.
A bipartisan group led by Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar and Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar introduced an updated version of the DIGNITY Act to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. The Florida Representative said this historic bill is the first serious bipartisan immigration solution proposed by Congress in decades.
“This report exposes a system that is failing American citizens,” said Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar. “The Dignity Act puts American families first, restores order and common sense to immigration enforcement, and ensures U.S. citizens are no longer separated from their loved ones and treated as collateral damage.”
The report, Collateral Damage: How Immigration Policy Harms U.S. Citizens in Mixed-Status Marriages, released by American Families United, is the first comprehensive, data-driven examination of U.S. citizens married to non-citizens. Based on the 2025 AFU National Survey of Mixed-Status Couples, the study documents widespread emotional, financial, medical, and spiritual hardship caused by an immigration system that offers no viable legal pathway for these families, and explicitly identifies the Dignity Act of 2025 as the solution.
The study finds that long-established, law-abiding mixed-status families are being swept up in an enforcement surge that forces U.S. citizens to choose between separation or leaving the country together. Since January 2025, the share of families discussing departure has jumped from 45% to 81%. Key findings include:
- Current immigration enforcement is harming American citizens and destabilizing families.
- Most mixed-status families have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, and over half are raising three or more U.S. citizen children.
- Nearly 60% of non-citizen spouses are primary caregivers, meaning deportation would strip families of essential care and stability.
- Hardship is nearly universal: 97.5% reported emotional hardship; 78% reported financial hardship; over half reported medical or spiritual hardship.
The South Florida Republican Congresswoman said the study makes clear that Congress has a solution. The Dignity Act of 2025 (H.R. 4393), which includes the American Families United Act, allows non-citizen spouses to regularize their status without the threat of prolonged separation. The Dignity Act of 2025 will:
- Protect U.S. citizens first by keeping families together
- Promote family unity while strengthening the rule of law
- Exclude anyone with a criminal record or national security risk
More than 2.6 million Americans live in mixed-status families. According to Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, the Dignity Act ensures immigration policy works in the best interest of American families, keeping them together, restoring common sense, and putting U.S. citizens first.
Check online for a section-by-section breakdown from Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar.
