Representative Nancy Mace has proposed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit foreign-born US citizens from serving in Congress, becoming federal judges, or holding Senate-confirmed positions. 

In a post on X, Mace called the proposed joint resolution “long overdue” and said that it would apply the same standard the Constitution already requires for the president and vice president.

“We just introduced a long overdue joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to require Members of Congress, federal judges, and Senate-confirmed officers to be natural born citizens. This is the very same standard the President and Vice President are already required to meet,” Mace said. “The people writing America’s laws, confirming America’s judges, and representing America on the world stage should have one loyalty: America. Not any other country.”

“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,” she added.

26 members of Congress are foreign-born US citizens, including 19 Democrats and seven Republicans, according to The Hill. Mace specifically cited Representatives Ilhan Omar, Shri Thanedar, and Pramila Jayapal as foreign-born lawmakers who are “making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America.”

In response, Jayapal called the proposal “racist legislation that denies the very history of a country that has been proudly shaped by immigrants.”

“This narrow-minded, xenophobic legislation has no place in Congress,” Jayapal claimed in a statement. “And I call on all my colleagues — including my Republican colleagues who are naturalized citizens — to condemn this.”