In early August 2025, claims circulated online that Illinois U.S. Rep Delia Ramirez made a statement during the inauguration of the 2025 Pan American Congress in Mexico City that suggested she considered herself "a proud Guatemalan before I'm an American."
The statement was allegedly made in Spanish as Ramirez spoke at the conference about fighting authoritarianism through democracy on Aug. 1, 2025.
Days later, Ramirez's statement came under fire when conservative outlet The Blaze posted a clip of Ramirez's statement on X (archived) on Aug. 4 and said, "Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez at a summit in Mexico City this weekend tells the audience while speaking in Spanish: 'I'm a proud Guatemalan before I'm an American.'"
Many conservative pundits such as Charlie Kirk (archived) and Mike Lee (archived) shared the post from The Blaze, criticizing Ramirez for the statement.
Even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (archived) account shared the clip and added a quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt that said in part, "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."
"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."
- Theodore Roosevelt https://t.co/Jki0zCAiHG— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 4, 2025
Further, Ramirez's colleagues from the other side of the aisle, including Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney (archived), also shared the clip and added their own commentary. Tenney wrote, "The Democrat Party no longer even pretends to put America first. Embarrassing."
Following the attacks from conservatives on social media, Ramirez released a statement that denounced the critical response to her speech as effectively racist but did not explicitly confirm or deny her intended meaning.
Her statement read in full:
Let's call it what it is: today's attacks are a weak attempt to silence my dissent and invalidate my patriotic criticism of the nativist, white supremacist, authoritarians in government. It is the definition of hypocrisy that members of Congress — who betray their oath each day they enable Trump — are attacking me for celebrating my Guatemalan-American roots.
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. Only those who believe America should not include the children of immigrants or be diverse would attack me - and Americans like me - for honoring my roots.
Honoring my Guatemalan ancestry only strengthens my commitment to America. That is the truth I carry with me always. And it is a truth that many Americans carry with them. We are the living and breathing realization of the idea of America – a place where a multicultural, multiracial democracy can prosper. I am the daughter of immigrants and the daughter of America. I am both Chapina and American. I am from both Guatemala and Chicago, Illinois.
Anyone who denies our claim on this country simply because we dare to honor our diverse heritage and immigrant roots only exposes how fragile and small-minded their own idea of America really is.
Important context to consider is that prior to that particular moment in her speech, which occurs about 1 hour and 5 minutes into this video from the Mexican Senate's YouTube channel, Ramirez delivered her remarks in English before switching to Spanish for her final words.
Snopes contacted Ramirez's press office for further clarification. A spokesperson wrote via email, "You will notice that her remarks are out of context. The Spanish remarks are grammatically incorrect, so a direct translation is not technically possible. Her sentiment was to speak Spanish in order to honor her Guatemalan heritage as an American."
The press office also provided Ramirez's full remarks as prepared for delivery in both English and Spanish. Comparing the remarks in both languages, the ones in Spanish were somewhat truncated but otherwise nearly identical, and were apparently intended to repeat the highlights of her talking points for the native Spanish-speaking audience.
Comparing the remarks as prepared to the remarks as delivered in the video, it's clear they were not read entirely verbatim, though they do align with the intention as written. Further, the English portion included a section that said:
As the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, I proudly carry my heritage, history, and community with me everywhere I go — I am both Chapina and American. I am from both Guatemala and Chicago, Illinois. I am both a daughter of immigrants and the daughter of Americans.
This would seem to be the sentiment behind the lines spoken in Spanish that became subject to scrutiny. However, without direct comment from Ramirez herself on her intended meaning, the exact translation is still up for debate and therefore we have chosen not to give this claim a rating.
As noted by her spokesperson, it appeared that Ramirez's grammatical construction in Spanish was not quite accurate, potentially leading to some confusion over her intended meaning.
She appeared to say, "Yo soy una Guatemalteca con mucho orgullo, primero que soy Americana," ("I am a Guatemalan with great pride, first of all I am American") for instance, which would more properly be spoken as "antes que Americana" ("before American") or "antes de ser Americana" ("before being American") as it is unlikely a native Spanish speaker would say "primero" (first) in this context.
If that is indeed the case, it would suggest that what she was accurately accused of saying, "I am a Guatemalan with great pride, before being American."
However, further obfuscating things is that native speakers in a Latin American country might consider saying "Americana" to mean "United States" a faux pas because "America" in that context would refer to North and South America as a whole rather than the U.S. as a country — especially in an official setting.
Considering this, it is possible she meant to imply she considers herself a proud Guatemalan first and foremost and said exactly what she meant. However, given that Ramirez began her speech in English and switched to Spanish for this brief segment to recap her message, it's also possible she intended to say she is a proud Guatemalan but considers herself an American first, or that she considers herself both equally, and used confusing syntax that led some interpretations astray.
Anna Rascouët-Paz, Aleksandra Wrona and Jack Izzo contributed to this report.