'Not negotiable': Bill Maher has a message for immigrants who want unconditional welcome
WASHINGTON, DC: Libertarian-leaning comedian Bill Maher, who shares a not-so-great relationship with President Donald Trump, argued that immigrants must assimilate into American culture.
He said that they must accept certain values, such as gay rights, women's equality, and free speech, describing these as “not white values” but liberal ones.
Bill Maher says immigrants must embrace American values
Appearing on the Saturday, August 15 episode of HBO's 'Real Time', Maher blasted both sides of the political spectrum for their approach to immigration within the country. Maher argued that there is "no doubt" that Democrats and Republicans "went to extremes."
"If you want the American dream, you have to take the American values," he said.
"Biden's policy of open doors, and then Trump's policy of broken windows," Maher continued. "Now, I'm on the page of America doing what it used to do so well, stealing hard-working, talented immigrants from around the world and making them Americans."
Maher highlighted the change in attitude among people migrating to the United States, saying that they no longer believe they should adapt to Western cultural standards.
This is going to piss a lot of Democrats off.
— Overton (@overton_news) August 15, 2026
Bill Maher just said out loud what very few people on the left are willing to admit about Islamic migration into the West and the cultural practices that can come with it.
And Maher made it clear it’s not “racist” to acknowledge… pic.twitter.com/zVgve9I2QM
"Now, most immigrants still want to assimilate, but some now have this other attitude of, ‘melting pot? F*** you, you melt,'" Maher said, while cracking a joke. "Look, you don’t have to love everything about America. We don’t. That’s why Yelp was invented."
Addressing immigrants, Maher said that if they can see past ICE, America is cool and lets them do whatever they want, such as speaking a different language, eating different food, and celebrating religious holidays.
However, the comedian warned that there's a price to immigration.
"But you have to answer one question: Do you like Western civilization? Because that’s what we are. And that’s not negotiable," he said.
Public policy expert says Bill Maher is wrong
Nicole Kreisberg, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy at Penn State, told Fox News Digital that Maher had the country's history backward.
"In my view, Maher makes it seem as if America is built on a foundation of the 'melting pot', rather than on 'assimilation,'" Kreisberg said. "To me, America is built on an attitude of 'assimilate or don't come.'"
Kreisberg said immigrants who fail to assimilate, or cannot manage to, face harsh cultural consequences.
"Immigrants past and present - such as Irish and Italians historically, or Chinese immigrants today- have sought to assimilate to avoid discrimination by changing their names to more ‘American’ ones... and by changing their political preferences," Kreisberg said.
"But unlike the case with Irish or Italians, who eventually did manage to assimilate to become ‘White’ Americans, contemporary immigrants are struggling because of pivotal differences in how they are racialized," she added.
