In her two terms in Congress, the Humboldt Park native has established a record of failure
With one sentence, delivered in Spanish earlier this month, Representative Delia Ramirez of Illinois’ gerrymandered 3rd congressional district, attracted the widescale attention she so desperately craves. “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I'm an American” is how the lifelong resident of Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood described herself in speech at a conference in Mexico City.
Apparently unsatisfied with that burst of fame, last week at the NetRoots Nation annual hate-America convention, Ramirez said ICE is “a terrorist organization.”
She regularly calls President Donald Trump and the United States “fascist.” Last week on her Instagram page, Ramirez declared, “Fascism is here.”
Well, if she is correct about the nature of Trump's presidency, then Ramirez would not be able to say so.
Some media sources say Ramirez is a member of “The Squad,” the extreme-left group of young members of Congress, led by New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. If Ramirez is a member, then our guess is that she elbowed her way in, as if she was trying to claim a seat at the “cool kids” table in the high school cafeteria.
Victimhood
As has been frequently noted here at Contrarian, leftist politicians usually have a personal origin story that relies heavily on victimhood. Within that crowd, being a victim brings status and power.
Ramirez says she is the daughter of undocumented immigrants. In 2023, shortly after being sworn in as a “congresista” which is she refers to herself on her social media accounts, Ramirez said of her visit to the southern border in Texas, “This was my second time at the border, with my first time being in my mother’s womb when she nearly drowned crossing the Rio Grande while pregnant with me 40 years ago.”
On social media, Ramirez does not say she is a member of Congress or even a congresswoman. As for her gerrymandered district, it is estimated only half of its residents are Hispanic.
In 2020, Ramirez married Boris Hernandez, a Guatemalan who migrated to the United States when he was a teenager. “I’m the only member of Congress that is married to someone who is currently undocumented,” Ramirez told Rolling Stone late last year. “He’s a Dreamer who is watching what’s happening in Texas, and in courtrooms across the country.”
While the time span for receiving even a conditional green card can vary, four years — considering that Ramirez is a U.S. citizen — seems like a very long time for Hernandez to wait.
But no worries. Because two months ago on the AirGo podcast, the congresista said that Hernandez finally received his green card.
But as early as 2020, when she was still a member of the Illinois House, Ramirez was drawing sympathy by telling anyone within earshot that her husband was undocumented.
Now that her husband’s residency status is secure, she still has other members of her family she can use to bolster her victimhood status.
Last week on MSNBC, Ramirez revealed that “half” of her family is undocumented.
What a foolhardy thing to say.
The Trump administration tends to respond to challenges, both direct and indirect ones, by striking back. So, border czar Tom Homan and ICE might now be searching for that half of Ramirez’ family that is here illegally. Which could mean that some awkward family gatherings, either in person or post-deportation by way of Zoom, are in Ramirez’ future. But those deportations would enshrine her victimhood.
Budget buster
Ramirez’ legislative record in Congress is weak. After scouring LegiScan, not a single bill sponsored by Ramirez was enacted into law. But that allows the congresista ample time to boost her social media presence, and indeed, she regularly posts photographs of herself meeting individuals and groups who share her core left-wing beliefs.
That’s a good thing, because as a member of the Illinois House, two pieces of legislation of hers that Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law were ruinous.
The worst one wasn’t even a standalone bill, it was sneaked into the 2021 state budget, as the State Journal-Register explained at the time:
“Illinois will become the first state to provide Medicaid for undocumented seniors not only because of what state Rep. Delia Ramirez has heard from her constituents, but because of her own family’s experience.
Buried near the end of the 465-page budget implementation bill that passed the Illinois General Assembly late Saturday night was a provision giving Medicaid access to noncitizens over 65 years old and whose income is $12,670 or less, which is at or under the federal poverty level.”
More:
“The expansion was a big win for the Legislative Latino Caucus, which Ramirez took lead on the effort through the health and human services working group leading up to the special session. She said the coverage will save the state money in the long run, costing about $2 million, which in her opinion, ‘is nothing to a $2 billion Medicaid bill.’”
Whenever a politician claims something will cost “nothing,” it will cost a lot.
Ramirez’ program ended up being named Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors (HBIS); it was quickly expanded with the creation of a companion program, Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA), which covered illegals aged 42 to 64.
Whenever someone tells you illegal aliens don’t vote in our elections, think of HBIS and HBIA.
According to Capitol Fax, a news site that typically obliges the Illinois Democratic Party, the HBIS Program almost immediately was plagued by astounding cost overruns. It said:
“That $2 million prediction was widely believed at the time, but the Fiscal Year 2021 cost for the senior program turned out to be $67 million and it doubled a year later and more than tripled by FY23.”
As for HBIA, Capitol Fax reported:
“First-year costs were about $52.5 million. The following year, in FY2023, costs rose 725 percent to $433 million. Total costs for all age groups was $644 million by that time, up from $187 million the year before.”
It all became so egregiously disastrous that even Illinois’ spendthrift governor took notice and HBIA ended on July 1. Ramirez’ expensive HBIS is still in place, but it is not currently accepting new enrollees.
So as a member of Congress it’s better for taxpayers that Ramirez focuses on her beloved social media accounts. Especially since she told Ben Joravsky on his podcast a few months after HBIS became law, that she had been “a budgeteer for the state House for the last two years.”
Kowtowing to the Chicago Teachers Union
Ramirez’ other legislation of note as a member of the General Assembly was SB 2908, which transforms Chicago’s school board from a body where members are appointed by Chicago’s mayor into a fully elected body. It was co-sponsored by the odious state Senator Robert Martwick (D-Chicago), whom the Contrarian reported on earlier this year. While more democracy is usually a good thing, the far-left Chicago Teachers Union, seeking a rubber-stamp body to advance its voluminous and destructive agenda, has long favored an elected board. Puppet masters always need more puppets.
Currently the Chicago Board of Education is in hybrid status — 10 members elected and 11 appointed by the mayor. Next year the board will be fully elected.
And while the results were in the 2024 board elections were a mixed bag for the CTU, in 2026 the union might have better luck. Politics has cycles. The far-left always plays the long game. One bitter fruit from its long game was getting one of its organizers, Brandon Johnson, elected mayor.
Ramirez is engaged in the long game too. If the Democrats recapture the House in 2026, and if a Democratic president is elected two years later, it will be an expensive ordeal for taxpayers. Among other things, Ramirez favors “Medicare for All.” We saw how financially catastrophic her Medicaid for illegals programs in Illinois turned out.
Now into her second term and aiming for a third, Ms. Ramirez has demonstrated she is unaccomplished, uninformed, and deeply unimpressive. She would be best served to keep in mind two Squad members were defeated in their reelection attempts in 2024. A center-right opponent of the congresista in next year’s election will have much to run against.
