Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts argues “there ought to be certain restrictions against not just religions, but particular political implementations of religions”
Roberts: “I'm talking about Islamism and some of the head coverings that are political statements more than they are honoring religious traditions”
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From the May 22, 2026, edition of The Blaze's Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey as broadcast on YouTube
KEVIN ROBERTS (GUEST): I would also encourage the president when it comes to immigration, to come back to that, to really double down on the importance of assimilation, the importance of wanting to be an American beyond getting the certificate that you're an American citizen, and to embrace what many of us have argued for decades, which is that the best way to be a pro-immigration country is to have laws that require immigrants to assimilate.
English should be the official language. We should have these mass deportations. You should break the back of these sanctuary cities, counties, and states. If that's something that needs to wait until January because of midterm considerations, that's fine. It just needs to happen. Not just because it's good, but also because we will in this movement strain credulity with our base if we don't deliver on that.
Americans want their country back, and I can think of no president, certainly in modern history, who better embodies the desire to do that than Donald Trump.
ALLIE BETH STUCKEY (HOST): Yeah, and that's a top issue for me, of course, I'm a big culture war girl. The things that I see is creation order issues, abortion, gender, marriage, those are going to be top. But other than that, crime, immigration. And like I'm just the suburban mom, but those are the things I really see affecting my community and it's not just, it's not only illegal immigration and this is where I think the conversation has shifted on the right in a good way.
I just don't know the solution for it is that people are saying, yes, illegal immigration, number one, but also, it doesn't seem like our legal immigration is really prioritizing American interests. And when people see their communities, the neighborhoods that they grew up in, completely shift and when people see churches turning into mosques, I think most Americans are uncomfortable saying it, but there's something unsettling about it.
And I don't know that many voters know how to articulate what our goal is or what we want, but something just doesn't seem just, and I haven't heard a whole lot of politicians be able to say there's a solution for that. So what do you think about it?
ROBERTS: Well, I will say, and not just for me, but from all of us at Heritage, I'm not uncomfortable saying it. It's a travesty. We ought not have this plethora of mosques being built anywhere. We ought not tolerate at any level of government what is at least the partial implementation of Sharia law. And I'm not holding President Trump responsible for that. I actually think he's going to get onto that issue, but I want to encourage him there.
I think that what we've learned now that we have closed the southern border, you know, almost a small political miracle if you will, is that we can move on to the next order of questions, and that is, what does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be a citizen, and not just in a legal sense, but in a social and cultural sense to, to be part of your neighborhood, your community, right?
Well, at the very least, it means you ought to speak English and English ought to be our official language.
It also means that while of course we will honor religious liberty that there ought to be certain restrictions against not just religions but particular political implementations of religions. I'm talking about Islamism and some of the head coverings that are political statements more than they are honoring religious traditions.
We have to understand that this country was based on principles that came from Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and Philadelphia. We are both Judeo and Christian in our founding.
That doesn't mean that there isn't room for other people, but it does mean that it's possible in a country that is so generous toward immigrants that we might have too many people from the wrong places.
You know my Christian faith, I believe as it is demanded of me because of my faith that every human person is equal in the eyes of God. A nation state can believe that and also because it believes it, say, that legal immigration should be so restricted as to be able to perpetuate the best parts of that society, right?