On September 8, 2025, Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt took the stage at the National Conservatism Conference and delivered a speech that has since sent shockwaves through America’s political and cultural landscape. The address, pointedly titled “What Is an American?”, did not mince words. Schmitt’s remarks, which targeted not only undocumented immigrants but also legal immigrants—specifically those entering the U.S. through the H-1B visa program—have drawn both fervent applause and fierce criticism, igniting a new front in the nation’s ever-contentious immigration debate.
Schmitt’s central thesis was clear: America’s immigration challenge is no longer just about border security or undocumented crossings. According to his speech, as reported by MSNBC and other outlets, the very existence of legal pathways for skilled foreign workers, especially the H-1B visa, represents a direct threat to American jobs and identity. “Legal immigration can harm Americans too,” Schmitt declared, drawing a stark line between his vision of national interest and longstanding bipartisan support for skilled immigration.
The H-1B program, which has long served as a pipeline for U.S. tech giants and Fortune 500 companies to bring in engineers, scientists, and other highly trained professionals from around the world, was singled out as a particular menace. Schmitt accused corporations of “importing millions” of foreign workers who are “cheaper and more compliant,” charging that these hires are not merely filling skill gaps but actively displacing American workers. He painted a vivid—and for many, chilling—picture: American employees being forced to train their own H-1B replacements, sometimes as a condition for receiving severance pay.
“This isn’t globalisation at work,” Schmitt argued, “it’s humiliation disguised as policy.” For him, the scenario was not a byproduct of economic change, but an orchestrated betrayal that strips citizens of both dignity and livelihoods. The senator’s rhetoric didn’t stop at economics. He framed the issue as a cultural and existential crisis, describing the United States as a “homeland” and “birthright” under siege by demographic shifts. In Schmitt’s telling, these changes threaten the nation’s tradition, heritage, and future—an argument that resonated with many in the room but alarmed others across the country.
According to MSNBC, Schmitt’s speech went well beyond the usual conservative talking points. It echoed the language and logic of white nationalist organizations like Return to the Land, a group seeking to establish whites-only communities in Arkansas and, more recently, Missouri. Schmitt’s vision, critics argue, is one that imagines the U.S. as the rightful inheritance of descendants of European settlers, marginalizing the generations of non-European immigrants whose labor and ingenuity have been integral to the nation’s development. As MSNBC’s analysis put it, “the truth is that the U.S. has never been the homogenous white, European utopia Schmitt’s speech envisions.”
The controversy was further inflamed by Schmitt’s recent hiring of Nathan Hochman, a political operative who had previously been dismissed from Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign for circulating a video containing Nazi imagery. Hochman, according to MSNBC, teased Schmitt’s speech on social media before the conference, hinting at its extremist tone. For many observers, this association only underscored the radical nature of the senator’s message and the company he keeps within the conservative movement.
Schmitt’s remarks also drew attention for their alignment with former President Donald Trump’s evolving immigration agenda. While previous Republican leaders often distinguished between legal and illegal immigration, Trump—and now Schmitt—have blurred that line, casting suspicion on all forms of immigration. Schmitt praised Trump’s willingness to challenge business lobbies that benefit from foreign talent and signaled that the GOP is prepared to make the curtailment of legal immigration, including the H-1B program, a central plank of its policy platform. “For the MAGA wing, dismantling the H-1B program has become as much a cultural mission as an economic one,” noted coverage from the National Conservatism Conference.
This shift in strategy is not without consequences. For international students and professionals who come to the U.S. each year under the H-1B program, Schmitt’s speech was a warning shot. The debate is no longer confined to border security or visa quotas; the very legitimacy of legal, skilled immigration is now under attack. For businesses—especially in technology, research, and healthcare—the prospect of a dramatically reduced talent pipeline is worrying. The U.S. economy has long relied on global talent to power innovation and growth, and many fear that curtailing programs like H-1B could hinder competitiveness at a time when expertise is more sought after than ever.
Schmitt’s approach also pushes the immigration debate into the realm of cultural warfare. By framing demographic shifts as existential threats and the U.S. as a “birthright” to be protected, he elevates the conversation from policy disagreement to a battle over national identity. As MSNBC observed, “Trump’s Republican Party has promoted and empowered unabashed white supremacists known to preach, as Schmitt did, about the purported superiority of white Europeans and their descendants.” The speech’s echoes of white nationalist rhetoric have prompted widespread condemnation from civil rights groups, political opponents, and even some within the senator’s own party.
Yet Schmitt’s message found a receptive audience at the National Conservatism Conference, where anti-immigration sentiment has increasingly become a rallying cry. By expanding the target from undocumented migrants to those entering legally, Schmitt is helping to redefine the boundaries of the conservative movement’s immigration narrative. It is no longer just about law and order or economic anxiety—it is about who belongs in America, who gets to compete for jobs, and who is allowed to shape the nation’s future.
For critics, the stakes could not be higher. They warn that this new Republican playbook, which sees “global talent” not as an asset but as a threat, risks undermining the very foundations of American society—diversity, opportunity, and the ongoing contributions of immigrants from all backgrounds. As the debate rages on, the country faces a fundamental question: Will it continue to embrace the promise of the American dream for all, or retreat into a narrower, exclusionary vision of its own making?
Schmitt’s speech, for better or worse, has made it clear that this is no longer a theoretical debate. The battle lines have been drawn, and the future of America’s identity—and its economy—hangs in the balance.