Rep. Nancy Mace wants to change the Constitution so that only natural-born American citizens can serve in Congress, sit on the federal bench, or hold Senate-confirmed positions. Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat born in Somalia, has four words for her: "Good luck to her."
The South Carolina Republican introduced a joint resolution proposing the amendment, which would extend the natural-born citizenship requirement that already applies to the presidency and vice presidency. Mace singled out three Democratic members by name, Omar, Rep. Shri Thanedar, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, accusing all three of disloyalty.
The proposal has no cosponsors. It faces a ratification gauntlet that has defeated nearly every constitutional amendment attempt in modern history. And it would apply to members of Mace's own party. But the exchange it triggered between Omar and Fox News on Capitol Hill tells a broader story about the growing friction between Republicans and a handful of foreign-born Democrats whose conduct and allegiances have drawn sustained scrutiny.
The resolution, designated H.J.Res.188, would require members of Congress, federal judges, and Senate-confirmed officials to be natural-born American citizens, the same standard the Constitution already sets for the president and vice president. The Daily Mail reported that Mace unveiled the proposal last week and defended it in a post on X and in comments to Fox News.
Mace did not mince words. On X, she wrote:
"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."
She added: "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."
In separate comments to Fox News, Mace stated: "If you hold power in the American government, you should be a natural-born American citizen."
Fox News approached Omar on Capitol Hill about Mace's proposal. Her reply was brief: "Good luck to her." When asked separately about Rep. Randy Fine's "Disqualifying Dual Loyalty Act", legislation introduced last year that would prohibit dual citizens from serving in Congress unless they formally renounce their other citizenship, Omar responded: "Who's that?"
The responses were casual. Whether they reflected genuine indifference or a calculated effort to minimize the proposals is an open question. Either way, Omar treated both measures as beneath serious engagement.
Omar, who was born in Somalia, fled civil war with her family, spent years in a refugee camp, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000. Her biography is well known. So are the ongoing federal questions surrounding her, including a Department of Justice investigation confirmed by Vice President JD Vance, as Fox News noted.
Fine, for his part, framed his legislation in terms of allegiance. "I think it's a fair argument to say you can only swear allegiance to one country, and if you're in Congress, that allegiance should be to America," he said. He added: "This bill ensures that the people making laws for our citizens are themselves fully committed to our country, not divided between two."
A constitutional amendment requires two-thirds approval from both the House and the Senate, followed by ratification from three-quarters of the states. That is a deliberately high bar. The Founders designed it that way.
There is no indication that Mace's proposal has broad support from Republican leadership or enough backing to advance through Congress. Just The News reported that the amendment has no cosponsors and that fewer than 9 percent of constitutional amendment proposals since 1973 have even received committee consideration. George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin told the outlet: "Most of these proposed constitutional amendments are essentially dead on arrival, or at least don't get very far at all."
There is another wrinkle Mace's critics have been quick to highlight. The amendment would apply prospectively, meaning no current officeholder would lose their seat even if it were ratified. That includes the very Democrats Mace named.
And it would not only affect Democrats. Twenty-six foreign-born lawmakers currently serve in Congress: 19 Democrats and 7 Republicans. Breitbart noted that Republican members born outside the United States include Rep. Victoria Spartz (Ukraine), Rep. Carlos Gimenez (Cuba), Rep. Juan Ciscomani (Mexico), Rep. Young Kim (South Korea), and Sen. Bernie Moreno (Colombia). A blanket natural-born requirement would bar future candidates from those communities too.
Democrats responded to Mace's proposal with predictable outrage. Rep. Jayapal called the amendment "racist legislation that denies the very history of a country that has been proudly shaped by immigrants," Newsmax reported. Rep. Thanedar accused Mace of "making racist and xenophobic attacks against me and my colleagues" instead of "working to solve people's problems."
That framing is convenient. It lets the accused lawmakers wrap themselves in the flag of immigrant aspiration while dodging the specific conduct that prompted the political confrontation in the first place.
Omar, in particular, faces questions that have nothing to do with where she was born. A convicted fraud ringleader has claimed Omar had knowledge of Minnesota's $250 million Feeding Our Future COVID meal scheme. Omar has repeatedly declined to address those allegations publicly.
She has also refused to answer questions about her ties to the fraud case, and a Minnesota fraud committee's effort to subpoena her fell one vote short.
Those are matters of conduct and accountability, not birthplace. And they are the kinds of questions that a "Good luck to her" dismissal does nothing to resolve.
Mace's amendment is a blunt instrument aimed at a narrow concern. The question of whether certain lawmakers prioritize foreign interests over American ones is legitimate. Voters ask it. Colleagues ask it. The press, when it chooses to, asks it.
But a constitutional amendment barring all naturalized citizens from federal service is not the answer. It would sweep in decorated veterans, longtime public servants, and loyal Americans whose only offense was being born somewhere else. It would punish Republican members of Congress alongside Democrats. And it would almost certainly fail, leaving the underlying concerns unaddressed.
The better tools already exist. Congressional ethics investigations. DOJ inquiries. Committee subpoenas. Voters at the ballot box. The problem is not that America lacks mechanisms to hold lawmakers accountable. The problem is that those mechanisms keep getting blocked, slow-walked, or ignored, especially when the lawmaker in question belongs to the right faction of the right party.
Omar stonewalled a Minnesota fraud committee investigating the Feeding Our Future scandal. A subpoena effort came up one vote short. That is not a birthplace problem. That is an accountability problem.
Mace's proposal will not become law. Everyone involved knows that. It is a message bill, a way to force a public conversation about the loyalties and conduct of specific members of Congress.
Fine's dual-citizenship bill is narrower and arguably more defensible on principle. Asking lawmakers to hold citizenship in only one country when they write that country's laws is not an unreasonable position. But that bill, too, appears to lack the support needed to advance.
What remains, then, is the underlying tension. A small number of foreign-born Democratic lawmakers face serious, specific questions about their conduct, their allegiances, and their willingness to submit to oversight. Those questions deserve answers, not constitutional amendments that will never pass, and not breezy dismissals on Capitol Hill hallways.
Omar said "Good luck to her." She might need some of that luck herself, not because of where she was born, but because of what she has done and refused to explain since she got here.
