Following Rep. Rashida Tlaib bashing the U.S. as founded in racism and oppression, an immigration policy expert is calling for lawmakers to have sole loyalty to the U.S. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images and Jose Luis Magana/AP)
"We used to have that as a very strict principle here. But over the past few decades, the government has been much more lenient about allowing people to retain dual nationality and there's only very limited circumstances where we require someone to give it up, like, for example, if they become a minister in a foreign government or president or prime minister in the foreign government or senior official. But for the most part, we've let it go."
He pointed to changes made to U.S. immigration policy in 1965 as part of the root of the issue.
"The biggest change was in 1965, when we essentially opened up immigration to the entire world, and we saw a dramatic change in where people came from," he said. "Now, when you bring people into your country, you bring all of them with you. You bring their good and their bad. And if they have beefs that they brought with them from the old country, then those can take a generation or two to die out. And sometimes with encouragement, they can last a lot longer.
The result, said Hankinson, has been a dramatic decline in assimilation in America and a simultaneous rise in "ethno-politics" dominating U.S. dialogue. One example of this is the anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric in a speech by Tlaib, who is a second-generation Palestinian American.
Speaking at the "People’s Conference for Palestine" in Detroit, Tlaib railed against Israeli leaders and supporters of Israel, shouting, "I want to say to all of them, every genocide enabler, look at this room motherf---ers, we ain’t going anywhere."
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference with immigration experts, DACA recipients, and Dreamers. Over the weekend, she attended a conference in Mexico City where she said she was a proud Guatemalan before an American. (Getty Images)
He pointed to another recent speech by Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who, while speaking at a pan-American conference in Mexico City, said in Spanish, "I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American."
In a June interview, another prominent member of the Squad, Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is a Somali immigrant, suggested that under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has become one of the worst countries in the world.
"I grew up in a dictatorship, and I don’t even remember ever witnessing anything like that, to have a democracy, a beacon of hope for the world, to now be turned into one of the worst countries, where the military are in our streets, without any regard for people’s constitutional rights, while our president is spending millions of dollars propping himself up like a failed dictator with a military parade."
In response, Hankinson explained that for many on the left, assimilation has become a "dirty word."
"Assimilation is the process by which people from different cultures, languages, religions, while they can retain those roots, share a common understanding of what the United States is and what it means to the world and what it can mean for centuries to come," he said. "I don't think you can be considered assimilated if you come here and manage to become a permanent resident and then a citizen without ever loving this country, understanding and knowing its history, speaking its language, and, for all its flaws, understanding that this is fundamentally a great country."
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ENDS SECOND LAYER OF TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS
Demonstrators holding signs and flags face California National Guard members standing guard outside the Federal Building as they protest in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on June 9, 2025. (APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)
"We’re seeing that in some parts of the United States where there are enclaves that are ethnically very concentrated. And so, the forces of assimilation that would normally cause people to distance themselves from their history aren't working as they have in the past and could in the future. And so, for example, Representative Tlaib or Ilhan Omar, they're very identified still with the cultures that they or their families left recently in a way that makes it seem as if they're putting the priorities of those peoples ahead of their own constituents."
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"If you were to go to a progressive, ultra-liberal friend and ask them, are there any rights that an American citizen should have that an illegal immigrant should not, You'll have to wait for the answer, because they're going to have a hard time coming up with anything," he said. "They believe in multiculturalism. That means that people should be able to bring the culture that they left behind in whatever country they come from and sort of reestablish it, and that the U.S. is just some place that they park while they make money and take care of their lives, but their loyalty remains outside."
The White House declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment on whether it would support a policy more strictly mandating American citizens and lawmakers have sole loyalty to the U.S.
Fox News Digital also reached out to the offices of Tlaib, Omar and Ramirez for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/squad-turns-assimilation-dirty-word-expert-urges-us-leaders-renounce-foreign-loyalties