GOP lawmaker pushes to strip Democrat of committee assignment after saying she’s ‘a proud Guatemalan before I am an American’

Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez is introducing a resolution that would remove Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez from the House Homeland Security Committee, citing recent comments the Democrat made at a summit in Mexico City.

Ramirez, speaking at the Panamerican Congress earlier this month during the chamber’s August recess, said: “I am a proud Guatemalan before I am an American.” The comment drew backlash on social media.

Gimenez told CNN on Friday he was moving to strip his colleague from her committee assignment because he views her conduct as “unbecoming of any member of Congress.” The Florida congressman’s resolution is privileged, meaning it will receive a full vote in the House once lawmakers return in September.

“I was born Cuba and was exiled from my homeland shortly after the Communist takeover. Everything I am, I owe to this exceptional country of limitless opportunities,” Gimenez said in part in a statement.

He added that “when a Member of Congress openly declares allegiance to a foreign nation over the United States, it is not only unacceptable — it is disqualifying for service on a committee tasked with securing our homeland.”

In response to the resolution, Ramirez said she “saw this coming.”

“It’s not normal, but it’s predictable,” the congresswoman told CNN in a statement. “I am the most progressive member of Congress on the Committee on Homeland Security. I speak out and was the first to call for (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi) Noem’s resignation for the many ways she is violating our civil rights and undermining the Constitution.”

Ramirez suggested President Donald Trump’s administration and her Republican colleagues have criticized her “because they hate what I stand for.”

“I represent diversity, I fight for equity, and I demand inclusion,” she said in her statement. “They will use any opportunity to misconstrue what I said and weaponize it to attack me. I have and will continue to use my voice, my heritage, and my experience to defend everyone in America, our Constitution, and our rights.”

Addressing on Monday the blowback she had received for the remark, Ramirez, an American citizen born to Guatemalan immigrants, argued that “honoring (her) Guatemalan ancestry only strengthens (her) commitment to America.”

“No one questions when my white colleagues identify as Irish-American, Italian-American, or Ukrainian-American to honor their ancestry. I’ve consistently expressed pride in my heritage and history – a pride also often reflected in the origin stories of my colleagues,” she said at the time.

Ramirez is not the only Democrat who could be removed from the House Homeland Security Committee in September. GOP Rep. Clay Higgins has introduced a privileged resolution to censure Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, which would also remove her from the panel.

McIver pleaded not guilty in June to federal charges accusing her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center during a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses Newark’s Delaney Hall, a privately owned, 1,000-bed facility, as a detention center.

Democrats – including New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez – who were with McIver at the detention center that day, have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges. McIver has vowed to fight the charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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