The US should pass the bipartisan Dignity Act, which balances being a nation of laws with being a nation of immigrants, as a true legislative compromise on immigration.
Emanuel proposes passing the bipartisan Dignity Act as a compromise that upholds both rule of law and America's immigrant heritage, while criticizing Democrats for losing control of the border and Trump for failing to deliver on immigration promises. ✦ AI generated
Rahm Emanuel · All-In Podcast · 2026-08-13 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 39:57
“So tell us what is Rahm Emanuel's plan for immigration post this hot and cold that we've had? Is there like a Goldilock zone?”
We're a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. And whatever we do on legal and illegal has to be true to both. Nobody likes people breaking the laws and giving a pass. And I'm included. You're looking at the guy for President Clinton that designed Operation Gatekeeper in San Diego, Operation Safeguard in Nogales, Arizona, did the stuff in El Paso... There's a thing called the dignity act. Has 23 Republicans, 23 Democrats in the House. It's true to being a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. Is it the bill that Jason would write? No. Is it a bill that Rahm Emanuel would write? No. But does it achieve the goal? Yeah.
verbatim transcript · starts at 39:57
39:57nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. And whatever we do on legal and illegal has to be true to both. Nobody likes people breaking the laws and giving a pass. And I'm included. You're looking at the guy for President Clinton that designed Operation Gatekeeper in San Diego, Operation Safeguard in Ngalas, Arizona, did the stuff in El Paso. I'm t my view. And then also the resources at the
40:22workplace. Tough borders, tough enforcement. There's a thing called the dignity act. Has 23 Republicans, 23 Democrats in the House. It's true to being a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. Is it the bill that Jason would write? No. Is it a bill that Rahm Emanuel would write? No. But does it achieve the goal? Yeah. So, everybody else is hiding using rhetoric. I endorsed it. Now, if you were doing
40:53politics and think, you would stay away from this and use just Pablo. But to me, we got to get this problem behind us so we have a future in front of us. You got 23 Republicans that signed on to certain things around legal and certain things around illegal. Does it tilt from the first time when the Democrats were in the majority a little more to the Republican side? Yeah. They're now the
41:14majority. Now, could you tilt it back to the original? Yeah. And you need leadership out of the White House, not just coming on this show and President Trump speaking Pabum and never really following through like he did on Dreamers, like he did on Green Card on every diploma. it legal immigration getting the best and the brightest. Going back to our China example, all these people that are leading leading
41:36China's life sciences came out of the United States, trained, worked in our life sciences. We kicked them out like fools. Okay? So, to me, pass the dignity act. Don't mess with it. And again, I want to be clear. It is not the bill I would write if I was sitting down at my keyboard. Does it accomplish the goal I set out? Is it a true compromise? Yes. Do we
42:04finally b do what we have to do at the border? Correct. Does it finally do what we have to do to attract the best of the brightest? Yes. And that to me would stop the civil war. >> What about a point based system? It seems like all the great high functioning immigration uh countries in the world have a point-based system. And even Japan, um I just learned on my last
42:27trip a couple weeks ago, they're going to require you have to speak the language fluently to get those jobs. And there's so many people who want to go to their great nation. They've kept it pretty tight and uh they force people uh to assimilate. So what's your views on assimilation, speaking the language in pointbased system? >> Well, look, >> any lessons there from Japan? I think the best lesson for the United