Ken Calvert and Young Kim really have no ‘Dignity' on immigration

With the passage of Proposition 50 and the gerrymandering of California’s congressional maps in November, the reworking of the 40th congressional district made it inevitable either Rep. Ken Calvert or Rep. Young Kim, both Republicans, would get bounced from Congress.

Rep. Young Kim, elected in 2020, represents what’s currently called the 40th district, while the redrawn district includes much of the district currently represented by Calvert, who has served in Congress for over 30 years.

Though both are Republicans, Kim has long cast herself as someone willing to cross party lines, often campaigning on her record of bipartisanship. Calvert, for his part, has basically been as close to a generic Republican as possible, adopting to whatever the majority position is of his party.

With the June 2 primary just around the corner and ballots set to mail out in weeks, they’re scrapping over who can be more Trumpy on the question of illegal immigration.

First, some scene setting.

Calvert has long stressed an enforcement-first approach and a longtime advocacy of E-Verify. Indicative of his hardline stance was his telling our editorial board in a written response to a survey, “Anyone who has come here illegally and committed crimes has no place in our communities and should be deported. That's not a radical position.”

Yet in a follow-up interview he indicated a less rigid position on immigration and even favorably floated the thought of President Trump having a Nixon-goes-to-China moment and pushing for immigration reform.

This has been pretty much the norm for Calvert over the years I’ve observed him: a lot of public chest pounding on immigration followed by much more reasonable positioning in an interview context. This includes, as noted in a past endorsement of Calvert, telling myself and my colleagues on the editorial board that he supports a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers. On the other hand, his voting record is what it is and he’s yet to actually vote for any bill in recent years to do that.

Meanwhile, Kim, herself an immigrant from South Korea, has long been more comfortable supporting a legislative solution for Dreamers, while at the same time having a similar record as Calvert when it actually comes time to back up her talk. In 2021, for example, both she and Calvert voted against the “American Dream and Promise Act” that would have basically codified the DACA program. The bill passed the House with nine Republican votes in favor.

Most notably for Kim, though, has been her co-sponsoring of the bipartisan Dignity Act, which is led by Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar. The Dignity Act balances border security, enforcement (including with E-Verify), along with legal pathways for both Dreamers and those who have been in the country since before 2020, with myriad requirements like paying a $7,000 fine. In other words, it’s at least an earnest attempt at a balanced solution to a problem involving millions of people who have lived here for decades.

But here’s where things get annoying: because Calvert and Kim are both Republicans in 2026, they are locked in a battle for who can appear to be the most obsequious to President Trump. And because they want the endorsement of the president, they have realized the key is to be as publicly uncompromising on immigration as possible.

Case in point: Calvert’s campaign is posting memes bashing the Dignity Act as “amnesty,” the word that most right-wingers have been conditioned to find revolting. Accompanying this was: “Conservatives who worked to elect Trump to end the Biden-era immigration policies are rightfully upset by Republicans like Young Kim who are joining Democrats in backing the pro- amnesty Dignity Act. Young Kim has made her priorities clear: it's Amnesty First and America Last.”

Calvert’s repeatedly stated support for what would be in effect amnesty at least for Dreamers aside, Calvert’s framing of immigration reform as putting America last or akin to Biden-era policies is pretty cartoonish. The point of something like the Dignity Act is to finally bring some order to the system, let federal immigration authorities more easily distinguish the contributing and the criminal for enforcement purposes, and bring an end to the chaos.

But Calvert’s attacks on the Dignity Act are part of an ongoing MAGA-wide effort to attack the bill. For instance, Texas Rep. Brandon Gill has taken the lead in attacking the bill and Rep. Salazar for introducing it. Gill recently slimed the bill in nakedly reactionary terms, saying, “The only people in America who deserve ‘Dignity' are Americans.” Which, if you think about it for a moment, is a pretty demented thing to say.

I reached out to Kim to see what she’d say about it, for some reason irrationally optimistic she might defend a bill she’s co-sponsoring and maybe even brave enough to call out lunacy in her party. Of course that expectation was misplaced.

In other words, Kim won’t repudiate nativist nonsense within her own party and just wants everyone to know how much she really, really supports Donald Trump.

The quote continued with some hits at Calvert and boasting “she is the only Republican in this race who has never supported amnesty for illegal immigrants.” Whatever. Unless we’re doing mental gymnastics while splitting hairs, the Dignity Act is, in effect, amnesty. And that’s fine, because amnesty is obviously necessary.

At the end of the day, all Calvert and Kim are doing is pandering to the nativist base of their party in hopes of getting another two years over in the Swamp. Which makes sense if you think about it: They can’t run on affordability, they can’t run on fiscal responsibility, they can’t run on a more peaceful world and they can’t run from their support for Trump’s tariffs (despite being self-described free traders).

It is what it is.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 5:09 AM.