CONGRESSMAN GRAY JOINS BIPARTISAN GROUP OF LAWMAKERS TO RE-INTRODUCE COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Adam Gray (D-Merced) today joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues to reintroduce the Dignity Act, a historic, comprehensive immigration reform bill. The legislation addresses legal status and grants protection to undocumented immigrants, invests in border security infrastructure, and overhauls our visa and asylum systems to relieve the backlog.

“The Central Valley cannot function without our immigrant community,” said Congressman Gray. “For generations, people from all over the world have come to the Valley to work hard, pay taxes, and provide for their families. Without them, our economy would crumble. The bipartisan Dignity Act reflects this reality and addresses our broken immigration system, strengthens our southern border, fixes our visa backlog, and grants legal protection to hardworking, law-abiding immigrants already living in the United States.

“So far this Congress, I have cosponsored multiple immigration reform measures. Each of them takes a thoughtful, commonsense approach to immigration policy and would improve our system in favor of the Central Valley’s interests. I’m disappointed that none of these measures has moved toward passage. Now, I’m hopeful that Speaker Johnson will listen to this bipartisan coalition and finally allow the House to take action to fix our broken immigration system.”

This comprehensive bill makes meaningful reforms to several aspects of our immigration system:

• It grants legal status and protections to undocumented immigrants already living in the United States;
• It reforms the asylum screening process to provide opportunity for review and access to council;
• It creates new regional processing centers, so migrants do not have to make the perilous journey to the U.S./ Mexico border to seek asylum;
• It invests in border security and modernizes our land ports of entry;
• It mandates accountability for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE);
• It provides a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.

The Dignity Act of 2025 is cosponsored by Democratic Representatives Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Susie Lee (NV-03), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Mike Levin (CA -49), Hilary Scholten (MI-03), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), and Laura Gillen (NY - 04) and Republican Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Mike Lawler (NY-17), David Valadao (CA-22), Mike Kelly (PA-03), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-08), Marlin Stutzman (IN-03), and Don Bacon (NE-02).

A summary of the bill is available here.

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