Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL)
When Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) took the stage at a summit in Mexico City this month, she declared in Spanish, “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.”
Her remarks struck a nerve with critics who see a growing pattern on the left: elected officials openly expressing primary loyalty to foreign nations or ethnic identities above the country and the people they swore an oath to serve.
Ramirez is hardly alone in openly stating that she is more loyal to a foreign country than the United States. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has repeatedly raised eyebrows for prioritizing Somalia’s interests over America’s. In a November 2023 Somali-language speech, Omar vowed, “While I am in Congress, no one will take Somalia’s sea. The United States will not back others to rob us. So, do not lose sleep over that.”
The speech appeared to frame Omar’s role in Congress as one of protecting Somalia’s sovereignty, not advancing the interests of her constituents. Omar later disputed the translation but did not deny defending Somalia’s territorial claims. As critics noted, her use of the word “us” in direct opposition to “the United States” appeared to indicate that she views herself as Somalian rather than American.
Omar’s comments are particularly outrageous given her own criticism of Jewish Americans for supporting Israel. The Somali-born congresswoman has notably accused her political opponents of “dual loyalty” for years and has a long history of making antisemitic remarks.
As Heritage Foundation fellow Mike Gonzalez noted, Omar’s rhetoric reflects a broader failure of the U.S. immigration system to promote assimilation. “Our current system produces… residents who retain their foreign allegiances,” he wrote. Gonzalez warned that multiculturalism has become “an a priori good,” replacing civic loyalty with identity politics and transnational activism.
Omar’s statements also directly contradict the naturalization oath she took in 2000, which begins, “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty.”
Ramirez’s comments, meanwhile, blatantly violate the oath that she took as a congresswoman to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same” (emphasis added).
This emerging theme repeats across the progressive wing of the Democrat Party, where expressions of solidarity with foreign nations replace any notion of American patriotism.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has been at the forefront of this movement, primarily using her position in the House to advocate for Hamas and against Israel. Last year, she posted a video accusing President Joe Biden of supporting “the genocide of the Palestinian people.” Tlaib also defended the slogan, “From the river to the sea,” which critics, including fellow Democrats, condemned as a call to eradicate the state of Israel.
More recently, New York City Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was caught vacationing at his family’s lavish compound in Uganda while a mass shooting unfolded in Midtown Manhattan. The optics were particularly damaging given Mamdani’s history of opposing police protection for New Yorkers, even as he enjoyed military-style security abroad.
The New York Post Editorial Board called it “an extra-icky look for a socialist who’s supposedly pro-equality and anti-imperialistic,” highlighting the disconnect between Mamdani’s actions and words. As other critics pointed out, anyone who vacations at a family compound in a foreign country (especially after just becoming a citizen in 2018) has no business running America’s largest city.
But it’s not just foreign-born Democrats who apparently care more about other countries than the United States and its people. Earlier this year, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) infamously traveled to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien previously deported by the Trump administration and now indicted for human smuggling and gang activity linked to MS-13. Van Hollen’s visit was framed as a show of “solidarity” with Abrego Garcia, despite mounting evidence of his deep involvement in trafficking networks.
After his extradition to face federal charges, the Justice Department revealed that Abrego Garcia had made more than 100 trips transporting women, children, and gang-affiliated individuals into the country. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted Van Hollen and his Democrat colleagues for defending a suspected criminal over the safety of American communities.
A slew of other congressional Democrats followed Van Hollen’s lead, making the pilgrimage to El Salvador even as their own constituents faced a litany of problems back home.
And of course, there are the endless gaudy displays of Democrat solidarity with Ukraine as liberals rush to send endless billions of taxpayer dollars overseas, even as Americans struggle to afford food and homes. Last year, Democrats waved Ukrainian flags on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives after passing a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. The display violated House decorum rules and drew swift condemnation from Republicans.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) ripped the display on social media:
“Democrats chanted ‘Ukraine’ while waving Ukrainian flags on the Floor of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives,” he wrote on X. “The Uniparty approved $60.8 billion more for Ukraine while the US quickly approached $35 trillion in debt.” As Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) put it, Democrats were showing “too much Ukraine, not enough USA.”
More than a century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt warned against the rise of “hyphenated Americans,” arguing that divided allegiances threatened the very fabric of the Republic.
“A hyphenated American is not an American at all,” Roosevelt said. “Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.” He feared the nation could dissolve into “a tangle of squabbling nationalities… each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.”
That warning has now proven prescient as the very lawmakers who have taken an oath to serve the American people express more loyalty to citizens of other nations than to citizens of their own nation. What was once whispered in fringe activist circles is now normalized from congressional podiums. “America First” has become a slur, while open loyalty to foreign nations is a badge of moral virtue.
As the Gospel of Matthew says, no man can serve two masters. In the same way, no statesman can serve two countries. Increasingly, Americans are forced to ask who, exactly, their leaders are in power to serve.
Sarah Katherine Sisk is a proud Hillsdale College alumna and a master’s student in economics at George Mason University. You can follow her on X @SKSisk76.
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