Immigration Limits Needed to Preserve ‘National Identity,’ Ramaswamy Says

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday demanded an end to what he called a “neoliberal” status quo on immigration policy that he said is embraced across the political aisle.

The Indian-American entrepreneur in a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington pushed for the Right to get tough on immigration, both legal and illegal.

“We are in the middle of a national identity crisis,” Ramaswamy said. “We have lost our sense of who we are as citizens of this nation, and sloppy immigration policies have only worsened that crisis.”

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

To address the problem, the country needs “greater screening requirements for legal immigrants that screen not just for their ability to make economic contributions, but also for their willingness and readiness to adopt and share American values during their time here, values that are enshrined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution,” he said.

He described “the lack of a shared national identity” as “one of the greatest threats to the continued existence of our republic”—stressing that this identity does not center on “a genetic lineage” or “common ethnicity,” but rather on “a shared set of civic ideals.”

More From Daily Signal: