Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is pushing forward with her effort to ban foreign-born individuals from serving in Congress and the federal judiciary.
Appearing on “Saturday in America,” Mace defended her newly introduced constitutional amendment and took aim at lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
“If the president has to be natural-born, so too should members of Congress, so too should our judges. That’s what my legislation was about,” Mace told Fox News.
Mace’s joint resolution would require members of the House, Senate, federal judiciary and other Senate-confirmed appointees to be natural-born citizens.
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She accused foreign-born lawmakers, specifically naming Omar, of harboring loyalties to other nations and said she would support retroactively removing naturalized citizens from Congress.
“We don’t have to look any further than Ilhan Omar or that guy, I can’t say his last name, Shri. These are people who’ve pledged allegiance to foreign countries,” Mace said, referencing Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich.
“They are influenced, I believe, by their foreign allegiance to other countries, and we want to make sure that America is run by American patriots.”
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When directly asked whether the legislation would apply to sitting lawmakers, Mace said she would “be fine” making the proposal retroactive and that it should “apply to those individuals who should not be serving in Congress,” in addition to affecting future election cycles.
Her proposal has the potential to impact several sitting members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle. In a post on X, Mace singled out three individuals.
“Ilhan Omar. Shri Thanedar. Pramila Jayapal. All born in foreign countries, none were citizens by birth. All sitting in the United States Congress. All making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America,” Mace wrote.
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“For too long we have allowed foreign-born members to hold seats in this government while making clear they are America last, not America first. We see it every day. This constitutional amendment will put an end to it,” Mace’s post concluded.
Omar appeared unbothered when asked about Mace’s proposal.
“Good luck to her,” Omar told Fox News Digital.
Jayapal condemned the proposal in a statement, calling it “xenophobic” and “narrow-minded.”
“Instead of working to help the American people, as so many cannot keep the lights on, keep food on the table, or pay their rent, Nancy Mace is instead introducing racist legislation that denies the very history of a country that has been proudly shaped by immigrants,” Jayapal said.
“This is also insulting to the hundreds of thousands of constituents who elected naturalized citizens into office,” she said.
The proposal would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress before ratification by three-fourths of U.S. states. Amendments can also be proposed through a constitutional convention requested by two-thirds of state legislatures, though that method has never been used successfully.
Fox News Digital reached out to Ilhan Omar’s office regarding Mace’s comments, but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack and Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.
