US Representative for Muslim Immigrants: 'Integrate or return to your homelands'

U.S. Representative Nancy Mace renewed her attacks on Muslim immigrants, calling on them to integrate or return to their home countries.

Mace sparked controversy with a post she published on the X platform, in which she demanded that Muslim immigrants integrate into American society or return to their homelands, attaching an image of Muslims at prayer. In the post, Mace wrote: “Integrate or return to your homelands.. America is not a hotel; you cannot move here and then demand that we change ourselves to suit you.”

She added that those who hate American values, the Constitution, culture, or way of life “should not come here,” considering entry into the United States “a privilege, not a right,” and that respect is the minimum expected of newcomers.

Mace has long attacked Muslims in America, previously describing them as a “Trojan horse” and a direct threat to national security, before clarifying in an interview with CNN that she meant Muslim officials and elected representatives, not Muslims in general.

In a previous interview with broadcaster Omar Jimenez, Mace expressed her opposition to hearing the call to prayer five times a day in the streets of American cities, arguing that it should be confined to mosques and homes, and described wearing the niqab as “scary.”

In May 2026, Mace introduced a bill titled the “No Immigration Without Integration Act,” which proposes requiring the Department of Homeland Security to assess immigrants’ capacity for integration before granting them any benefits or visas, and to deport those who adopt ideas she deems incompatible with American values.

Mace’s remarks have drawn criticism from journalists and civil rights advocates, who cite the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religious exercise in public spaces, and Article Six, which prohibits imposing any religious test as a condition for holding public office.

This statement is part of a series of hardline positions Mace has taken on immigration and the religious expressions of Muslims in the United States, amid widespread debate over the boundaries of free speech and religious discrimination in American political discourse.