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U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is pushing to bar naturalized Americans from serving in Congress or other high-levels of the federal government.A Republican from South Carolina, Mace has unveiled legislation aiming to ban foreign-born U.S. citizens from becoming federal judges and being appointed to Senate-confirmed positions. Mace, 48, called her push a "long overdue joint resolution" for the constitutional amendment."This is the very same standard the President and Vice President are already required to meet," Mace, proposing a constitutional amendment for the ban, wrote in an X post on May 20. "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."Mace's push comes as multiple courts across the nation have issued decisions on birthright citizenship after President Donald Trump's February executive order directing federal agencies not to recognize the citizenship of babies born in the United States if neither parent is a citizen or lawful permanent resident.The Supreme Court on May 21 continued rolling out decisions for the term, including Trump's order as well as fights over transgender athletes.Earlier this year, the president predicted the justices would also strike down his effort to sharply limit who qualifies for automatic U.S. citizenship.In her post, Mace targeted three current U.S. representatives born outside the United States: Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota born in Somalia; Shri Thaneda, a Democrat from Michigan born in India; and Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington born in India."All born in foreign countries, none were citizens by birth. All sitting in the United States Congress," she wrote. "All making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America."Lawmakers fire back at Nancy Mace's constitutional amendment proposalOn May 20, Jayapal responded to Mace's proposal, dubbing it "racist legislation that denies the very history of a country that has been proudly shaped by immigrants.""This is also insulting to the hundreds of thousands of constituents who elected naturalized citizens into office," Jayapal wrote in a statement. "This narrow-minded, xenophobic legislation has no place in Congress. I call on all my colleagues − including my Republican colleagues who are naturalized citizens − to condemn this."USA TODAY has reached out to the offices of Omar and Thaneda.Who is Nancy Mace?Mace became the first Republican woman elected to Congress from South Carolina in 2021.She criticized Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot before becoming one of his closest allies.Mace launched a campaign for the state's gubernatorial race in August.Her GOP opponents in the June 9 primary include Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, Businessman Rom Reddy and Jacqueline Hicks DuBose.State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, Richland, Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod and former president Bill Clinton staffer Billy Webster are running in the Democratic primary, as reported by the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network.The general election takes place on Nov. 3.Contributing: Bella Carpentier with the Greenville NewsNatalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
