U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez of Illinois became the focus of a heated political debate this week. She made a comment during the opening of the second annual Panamerican Congress in Mexico City, which led to strong backlash and even calls for her deportation due to immigration reasons.
The controversy started when Ramirez, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, reportedly said in Spanish, “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.” Fox News found this statement when it was reposted by the official Department of Homeland Security (DHS) account on X. This led to widespread criticism from political opponents. The DHS post made the situation worse by including a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “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.”
