Yet another immigrant imprudently elected to Congress has declared her loyalty to another country.
Far-left Representative Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) says that she is a Guatemalan first, and an American second.
Reaction from real Americans was swift. The Department of Homeland Security reminded X users that hyphenated Americans, as President Theodore Roosevelt called them, are unwelcome here.
GOP Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee wants Ramirez denaturalized and deported.
Ramirez isn’t the first far-left immigrant congresswoman to declare allegiance to another country she considers home. So also has Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose first allegiance, she has said on numerous occasions, is to Somalia.
To her credit, Ramirez comes by her allegiance to Guatemala honestly. She is an anchor baby who was born to Guatemalan illegal aliens in Chicago. Indeed, her husband is an illegal alien.
“As the only member of Congress in a mixed-status family, she is leading the fight for comprehensive immigration reform and finally making a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers like her husband, Boris,” her congressional biography says.
That background explains her primary loyalty: to a foreign country.
Speaking in Mexico City this weekend, she declared the following: “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.”
The remark raises obvious concern about her possible access to classified information as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, and more notably in her case, its Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee.
“Denaturalize, deport, and kick her off Homeland Committee,” Ogles wrote on X. “We know where her allegiances lie.”
The Department of Homeland Security, again, cited the leader of the Rough Riders:
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism…. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.
Of course, Ramirez claimed that critics are “nativists” and “white supremacists.”
“Today’s attacks are a weak attempt to silence my dissent and invalidate my patriotic criticism of the nativist, white supremacist, authoritarians in government,” she fumed:
It is the definition of hypocrisy that members of Congress — who betray their oath each day they enable Trump — are attacking me for celebrating my Guatemalan-American roots.
No one questions when my white colleagues identify as Irish-American, Italian-American, or Ukrainian-American to honor their ancestry. I’ve consistently expressed pride in my heritage and history — a pride also often reflected in the origin stories of my colleagues. Only those who believe America should not include the children of immigrants or be diverse would attack me — and Americans like me — for honoring my roots.
Ramirez claimed that honoring her ancestry “strengthens” her loyalty. “I am both Chapina and American” she said. Chapina is her country’s term for girl or woman.
At least Ramirez, however, didn’t call American GIs enemies of her people, as did Ilhan Omar, another foreigner in Congress. Last year, Omar invited Somali interference in her election campaigns. And twice she has uttered Somalia-first remarks.
Her home country’s former prime minister, Hassan Khaire, appeared at a campaign rally last year. “This is not a Minnesota issue,” he said:
It’s not an American issue. It’s an issue of Somalis.
Speaking at a public forum in January last year, Omar said “the U.S. Government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else.”
Omar said she was in Congress “to represent your interest,” meaning Somalis.
“Sleep in comfort, knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system,” she said. “The woman you sent to Congress is working day and night to protect your interest. She knows your plight and that of Somalia.”
“No sitting member of Congress should be able to blatantly spew anti-American rhetoric and get away with it,” GOP Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota said.
“Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport!” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on X.
Of course, Omar and her backers dispute that translation of her remarks. Even if that translation is inaccurate, other Somalia-first remarks have surfaced.
In 2022, Omar referred to the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, as “our president.”
“The president and I have a special relationship,” she told a cheering crowd:
I call him uncle and he calls me his girl. Welcome to your home. Our home is your home.… Somalia is our home. It is home to all the people gathered here. We do not feel that it is far from us. Somalia is our heart. It is in our hearts. We always think about Somalia.
In 2017, Omar falsely claimed that the American GIs who fought against the warlords who were ravaging her country needlessly killed “thousands of Somalis.”
H/T: Newsweek