Not long ago, quoting the Ku Klux Klan would’ve been a career-ending scandal for any politician. But now, it’s a recruitment strategy for the federal government.
In October, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared three posts on social media containing the phrase “America for Americans.” To those unaware of the history of this slogan, its usage may seem innocuous. But this slogan has a shameful history: it was used as a rallying cry by the infamous Know-Nothing Party and was later adopted by the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1920s.
The slogan was used as part of DHS’ efforts to recruit ICE agents. In one of the posts, the slogan accompanied an all-caps message saying that “EVERY CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN MUST GO.” It’s true that actual criminals should be deported— but when we look at the history of the slogan used by DHS, it becomes evident that the federal government is signaling much more than deporting criminals and reveals what its immigration agenda is really about.
“America for Americans” first gained traction with nativists in the 1850s. The Know-Nothing Party used it as an anti-immigrant rallying cry aimed largely at Irish and German newcomers at the time. The Know-Nothings were immigration hardliners, calling to dramatically reduce immigration and exclude foreigners from political life.
Later, in 1916, Teddy Roosevelt would pick up the slogan and deliver a speech with the same title, though with less anti-immigrant rhetoric. In it, Roosevelt acknowledged America as a land of immigrants and Americanism as a matter of “the soul and of the spirit,” not of birthplace. He forcefully rejected “hyphenated Americans” and called for assimilation. Roosevelt argued that “unless the immigrant becomes in good faith an American and nothing else, then he is out of place in this country, and the sooner he leaves it the better.”
If the history of the “America for Americans” slogan ended there, some may rationalize that it may not be such a big deal that the federal government is now employing it to advertise its immigration agenda. But the history gets darker when the slogan was picked up by the KKK in the 1920s.
The KKK— the epitome of racism in American history— began using the slogan to support its nativist, anti-immigrant, white supremacist agenda. For example, in a pamphlet titled precisely “America for Americans,” the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan expressed that they “shall ever be true in the faithful maintenance of white supremacy and will strenuously oppose any compromise thereof in any and all things.” The pamphlet depicted a white-robed-and-hooded Klansman holding an American flag and riding a similarly dressed horse.
Historian Erika Lee explains that, around that time, notorious eugenicist Madison Grant adopted the now widely-known white supremacist slogan “to report that native white Americans were being ‘submerged’ by an ‘influx of foreigners.’” Grant was the author of the book “The Passing of the Great Race” which rationalized racism and eugenics. As I’ve related in these pages before, this book partially influenced one of America’s most draconian immigration laws, the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. Adolf Hitler would later refer to Grant’s book as his “bible.”
Those unfamiliar with the history of the “America for Americans” slogan may not look twice when encountering this phrase coming from the Department of Homeland Security. But by knowing this history, which government officials obviously know as well, the message behind that slogan becomes crystal clear: this administration’s immigration agenda has commonalities with the nativist organizations that first coined and popularized it.
When government officials say “America for Americans,” that’s precisely what they mean. An “American” doesn’t, in this view, include anyone not born here. The government is transparently telling Americans the type of country they’re trying to engineer. Why else quote the KKK?
Many might say: “It cannot be— there is no way the U.S. government, in 2025, could possibly be implying anything racist or nativist by using that phrase.” They should reconsider. DHS is choosing to use a phrase with a known, documented history and therefore must be held to that meaning.
In an essay discussing the impact and importance of ideas, philosopher Ayn Rand argued that one has to take seriously the meaning of words. She offers this advice:
“You must not take a catch phrase—or any abstract statement—as if it were approximate. Take it literally. Don’t translate it, don’t glamorize it, don’t make the mistake of thinking, as many people do: ‘Oh, nobody could possibly mean this!’ and then proceed to endow it with some whitewashed meaning of your own. Take it straight, for what it does say and mean.”
We should all follow this advice when analyzing this slogan and any other words coming from the government. After ascribing their real meaning to these words, ask yourself: Is “America for Americans,” in its full meaning, what you envision America to be? Are you comfortable with your government reviving old racist slogans?
If you didn’t know the history behind DHS’ “new” slogan, now you do. You can’t unsee who used “America for Americans” and what they used it for. Neither can the officials who chose to revive it.
I don’t share their vision. I want this country to live up to the promise of the Declaration: an America for more Americans, one that welcomes peaceful, hard-working people who want to trade and build a life in freedom, and invites them to partake in this amazing American experiment. A government that dusts off nativist slogans is moving in the opposite direction.
Agustina Vergara Cid is a Young Voices contributor and columnist for the Southern California News Group. You can follow her on X: @agustinavcid