Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is pushing a constitutional amendment that would prevent naturalized U.S. citizens from holding seats in Congress, serving as federal judges, or occupying positions that require Senate confirmation. The proposal, which she unveiled Wednesday on social media platform X, seeks to extend the same birthright requirement already applied to the president and vice president to other high-level federal offices.
In her statement, Mace called the joint resolution “long overdue,” arguing that individuals born outside the United States could harbor conflicting allegiances. “The people writing America’s laws, confirming America’s judges, and representing America on the world stage should have one loyalty: America,” she wrote. “Not any other country.”
The South Carolina Republican, who is currently running for governor, went further, claiming that “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.” She asserted that the amendment would “put an end to it.”
According to current data, 26 members of Congress are naturalized citizens—19 Democrats and 7 Republicans. Mace specifically called out three Democratic representatives born abroad: Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Shri Thanedar of Michigan, and Pramila Jayapal of Washington. “All born in foreign countries, none were citizens by birth. All sitting in the United States Congress,” she said. “All making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America.”
Jayapal fired back, denouncing the measure as “racist legislation that denies the very history of a country that has been proudly shaped by immigrants.” In a written statement, she called it “narrow-minded, xenophobic legislation” and urged colleagues—including naturalized Republicans—to reject it. Jayapal, who was born in India, recalled her naturalization ceremony as “one of the most meaningful days of my life,” adding that she had never forgotten the pride of becoming an American citizen after decades of waiting.
The Hill reached out to the offices of Omar and Thanedar for comment but had not received responses at press time. The amendment faces steep odds; any constitutional change requires two-thirds majorities in both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures.
This push comes amid broader debates over citizenship and loyalty in Washington. Recently, President Trump signed an order tightening bank scrutiny of customer citizenship, and critics have charged that White House prayer initiatives violate the First Amendment. Mace’s proposal also echoes previous state-level efforts, such as when Louisiana voters rejected all five constitutional amendments in a recent election.
