GOP Senator Who Sponsored Dignity Act Introduces State Amnesty Bill, Experts Say

Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, joined his Democrat colleagues on Monday in introducing legislation that would establish a “state-run visa pipeline with a built-in legalization component” for illegal aliens, which critics categorized as a “de facto amnesty” bill that rewards those who broke American immigration laws.

“I’ve heard time and again from small business owners, farmers, and ranchers across Utah how difficult it has become to hire enough workers to meet growing market demands,” Curtis, who switched to the Republican Party in 2009 after running as a Democrat in a Utah state Senate race in 2000, said in a press release.

“Our legislation would help fill the gap by creating a pilot program allowing states to sponsor visas tailored to their unique economies, without sacrificing rigorous federal vetting or accountability,” Curtis, the former chairman of the Utah County Democratic Party, said.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., added that “states understand their own economic needs best, but federal rules currently determine who can live and work here.”

“Our bipartisan bill would let Arizona and other states choose the visas they need to fill labor gaps and strengthen their local economies,” the Arizona Democrat continued.

Curtis and Kelly did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

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What the Bill Actually Does

Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal that, if enacted, the bill would create a fourth pathway for migrants to obtain visas.

The former Department of Homeland Security acting deputy chief of staff under President Donald Trump’s first administration explained that current U.S. law provides three pathways to obtain a visa: family, work, and humanitarian, such as asylum.

The bill aims to create a fourth pathway, sponsored by individual states.

Aside from creating a fourth bucket for visa applications, the visa, under the provisions of this legislation, allows the temporary worker to bring their spouse, Ries, who also served as an immigration policy director at the Department of Homeland Security during the administration of former President George W. Bush, added.

As stated by Ries, allowing temporary workers to bring their families here “incentivizes them to stay permanently instead of returning home when their visa expires.”

The bill would also allow states to classify the new visa holders as residents. The minimum requirement for a visa holder to qualify as a resident under this bill is 14 days, Ries continued.

Ries went on to explain that this bill is being pushed at the federal level because states can create their own immigration laws only if they are consistent with federal law.

“As it is, we’re seeing that our immigration system has been too generous, and every immigration benefit we offer gets abused and defrauded,” Ries concluded. “Our legal immigration system has become a pick-and-choose buffet of immigration benefits for aliens. This would grow the buffet, when what we need to do is deport aliens who fraudulently obtained such immigration benefits and limit the types and amount of immigration benefits to a manageable system benefitting Americans.”

Ries believes the reason for Curtis’ legislative push is to help American employers continue outsourcing jobs to migrants who accept below-average pay.

Follow the Money?

A Daily Signal analysis of OpenSecrets records showed that Curtis has received large sums of money from labor PACs in the 2025-26 campaign cycle alone. Scott Mechkowski, visiting fellow for deportation studies at the Oversight Project, added that this is “a pattern, not a one-time vote” from Curtis, who is looking to “line up with who backs him.”

Ries told the Daily Signal that those same PACs “probably wrote” the legislation Curtis is now pushing.

Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers and a longtime political strategist, expanded on that claim and said that the senator’s record of pushing for amnesty and mass migration tells voters what they need to know about his stance on illegal immigration.

“Curtis wants credit for being tough on the border, but his record tells a different story,” he continued. “In 2022, he signed on as an original cosponsor of the Dignity Act and publicly bragged about it, praising the bill for ensuring employers have access to reliable foreign workers. It lines up with who backs him.”

Conservative Hurdle

Although the legislation was introduced by a Republican, the bill, if it is referred to a committee and voted on, would receive pushback from conservatives who are committed to the promise of mass deportations.

In a statement, Mechkowski told the Daily Signal that this bill is just “amnesty by another name” and creates an incentive for future illegal aliens to enter the United States.

“I spent 24 years enforcing the Immigration and Nationality Act, and I know exactly what these bills do on the ground,” Mechkowski wrote. “They reward the people who broke our laws, and they promise the next wave that waiting pays off. His allies can call it earned status or workforce reform all they want.”

Cortes, expanded on the claim and told the Daily Signal that “once a migrant is in America ‘legally,’ no other state can restrict them.”

Cortes called this a “total back door to mass migration again.”

“Like the Biden era, cause of course, the blue state will just go wild with their own allowances,” Cortes continued.

Effectively, critics of this legislation have said the bill aims to give states that don’t enforce immigration laws the ability to engineer a “de facto amnesty.”

“This would allow states that are weak on immigration (which is most of them) to engineer a de facto amnesty,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on X.