Right-wing media aim to define who is a real American

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

MAGA media figures argue some Americans are not really American

Charlie Kirk: “We have one culture that you assimilate towards. One. We should not put up with all these different pockets of culture.”

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Noah Dowe

Published

As the Trump administration continues to expand immigration raids, arrests, and mass deportations, right-wing media have pushed for a more exclusionary America, calling for targeted deportations of noncriminal migrants and elected officials they deem “not American.” Despite initial promises that the Trump administration’s mass deportation program would focus on “the worst of the worst,” right-wing media personalities are now arguing “all 10 million have to go,” attacking people who don’t speak English, and suggesting that “if America is just a passport, then America is dead.”

  • The Trump administration has continued deportations of thousands of people, many of whom have no criminal history

    • According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, the large majority of detainees have no criminal convictions. The Cato Institute reported that as of June 14, 65% of ICE detainees had no criminal convictions and 93% had no violent convictions. The Cato Institute's report claimed, “ICE’s deportation agenda is not what is being advertised to the American public. ICE is not interested in prioritizing public safety, yet it constantly pretends that anyone who objects to its tactics and priorities is defending violent criminals. But violent criminals are not ICE’s primary focus. Indeed, it now has no focus altogether. That’s the essence of mass deportation: it is indiscriminate, unfocused, and chaotic.” [The Cato Institute, 6/20/25]
    • The Trump administration is expanding its deportation efforts toward noncriminal migrants. According to ABC News, from Inauguration Day to May 4, only 44% of ICE detainees had criminal convictions and 23% had no criminal history. However, starting at the end of May, those numbers flipped, with only 30% of detainees having criminal charges and 44% having no criminal history at all. [ABC News, 7/1/25]
    • Under Trump, ICE has been targeting migrants at immigration courts and arresting people whose cases have been dismissed by judges. According to ABC News, immigration attorneys that spoke to the network claimed the Trump administration “is now using dismissals to detain people at immigration courts and place them into expedited removal without allowing them to fight their case.” [ABC News, 6/4/25]

  • Right-wing media claimed Trump would target the “worst of the worst” but have expanded to attack naturalized and native-born citizens

    • Right-wing media personalities have repeatedly downplayed and denied that the Trump administration is deporting innocent people. In late January, Fox News contributor Paul Mauro claimed that the Trump administration is not deporting “the abuelitas,” but the “worst of the worst.” Another Fox News contributor, Liz Peek, claimed in February, “ICE is not raiding people's homes and picking up housekeepers and other people who are simply here illegally. They are targeting hardened criminals and gang members.” Fox’s Joey Jones pushed back on reports of “nonviolent criminals” being deported, claiming they were “hanging out with the violent criminals.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/31/25; Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 2/3/25; Fox News, Outnumbered, 2/4/25]
    • Amid the deportation expansion, MAGA media have increasingly harnessed their “hostility toward immigrants to take aim at naturalized and native-born citizens in an assault on American identity itself.” Non-white elected officials and candidates across the nation, including Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh were attacked by right-wing figures as “not American,” with some even calling for their deportation — even though all of them are U.S. citizens. [Media Matters, 8/25/25]

  • Right-wing media are now trying to redefine what it means to be an American — with some even calling for deportations based on cultural criteria

    • War Room host Steve Bannon: “All 10 million have to go, not just the criminals and the insane asylum.” Bannon continued, “The way you do that is to deport 10 million illegal alien, wait for it, invaders. And at the same time, let's get [former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas and Biden and the entire crowd — arrest them.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 6/10/25] 
    • Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called for the end of dual citizenship and suggested that multiple Democratic officials are not American, arguing, “If America is just a passport, then America is dead.” Kirk: “Everyone says, ‘Well, we just need immigrants to come legally. We just need immigrants to come legally.’ That's not true. Omar Fateh came here legally. Ilhan Omar came here legally. Rashida Tlaib, her parents came here legally. Zohran Mamdani came here legally.” [Real America’s Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 8/19/25]
    • Kirk later complained about “how often I meet people in this country that don't speak any English,” adding, “We have one culture that you assimilate towards. One. We should not put up with all these different pockets of culture.” Kirk also stated, “America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years. ... We should be unafraid to do that.” [Real America’s Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 8/22/25]
    • Twitch streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as “Asmongold,” said, “Anybody who's not speaking English shouldn't fucking be here.” Hoyt claimed, “English is the national language, and it always has been. So the fact is that anybody who's not speaking English shouldn't fucking be here.” He added, “If somebody is coming into the United States and they can't speak English, I think that should be an automatic decline. Should be an insta-decline if you're not proficient in English.” [The Atlantic, 4/25/25; YouTube, Asmongold TV, 8/22/25]
    • The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh attacked Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) as an “anchor baby” because she talked about being proud of her Guatemalan heritage. Walsh claimed, “She and her entire family should be deported. If she loves Guatemala so much, she can live there.” He continued, “The fact that Delia Ramirez wasn't on a boat back to Guatemala five minutes after she made those remarks is a disgrace.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 8/13/25]
    • Walsh also claimed Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), who was born in Miami, is “not American” and should “go back to Cuba.” “You're not American. You clearly don't like this country or identify yourself with it,” Walsh ranted, adding, “So there is no we here. You want to talk about we, go back to Cuba and talk about we.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 7/22/25] 
    • Walsh said Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh is “not actually an American,” arguing, “It doesn't matter that Omar was born here. It doesn't matter whether his parents were legal immigrants or not.” Walsh claimed Fateh, “like the other Somali politicians in Minnesota, understands that he can take advantage of us.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 7/15/25]
    • Daily Wire host Michael Knowles: “You can't just deport the ones with face tattoos. You do, kind of, have to deport abuela.” He continued, “You do eventually, at least. You can't have just random carve outs. Well, if you work on a farm — as if what? Illegals who work on farms can't commit crimes? As if they haven't committed crime?” [The Daily Wire, The Michael Knowles Show, 7/7/25]
    • Right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec posted, “Imagine your parents moved to Italy in the 70s and you claimed you were ‘just as Italian’ as a centuries-long family from Sicily. That's what the American question is all about.” He posted his comment in response to an image asking, “What is an American?” that rated how “American” one is based on the time of family arrival into the country. [Twitter/X, 8/24/25]
    • Right-wing writer Logan Hall posted, “The idea that this person’s abuela can show up here illegally, touch some magic dirt, and is now somehow as American as a guy who can trace his ancestors to the Mayflower is pure insanity.” [Twitter/X, 8/4/25]
    • Former Fox host Tucker Carlson called it an “emergency” that “we don’t even know who lives here,” arguing, “Who are my neighbors? They don't even speak my language. They don’t know what the Civil War was.” His guest, Charlie Kirk, agreed that America is now “a nation of strangers” and claimed that “we are colonizing ourselves” with migration. [YouTube, The Tucker Carlson Show, 7/21/25]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade attacked migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia for using an interpreter, saying, “How motivated are you to be part of America if you can't even speak English, six or seven years here? You really have no interest in being here.” Kilmeade then fantasized about the potential deportation of Abrego Garcia, saying, “I cannot wait to see the shot of him boarding a jet to Uganda. Remember, tray table up until you get in the air 30,000 feet.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/25/25]
    • Conservative author Kurt Schlichter called American culture “superior to all others” and argued others “should be discarded in the rare chance we allow an immigrant in in the future.” He added, “This is the moderate position.” [Twitter/X, 7/14/25]
    • Right-wing influencer Phillip Buchanan, who posts on social media under the moniker “Catturd,” called to “deport all illegal invaders.” [Daily Dot, 7/25/23; Twitter/X, 8/6/25]