The Democrats intend to give the right to vote in local elections to non-citizens and undocumented immigrants
The ruling party in the District of Columbia (DC) Council approved a bill that will allow non-citizens and illegals to vote in local elections, a precedent that may open the door for foreign agents to cast their ballots and decide politically in the United States.
Democratic councilors in several cities in the United States seek to increase their voter base, granting the right to vote to non-citizen and undocumented residents , protected by laws that aim to end the constitutional norm that limits suffrage to US citizens. In the US capital, law B24-0300 or the Local Residents Voting Rights Act has already been approved and is in the final phase of review for its publication.
The District of Columbia Council voted in favor of a law that allows non-citizens, including illegals, to vote in local elections as long as they have resided in the District of Columbia for 30 continuous days.
The controversial piece of legislation could authorize employees of embassies and consulates to vote in elections for mayors, councilors, attorney general, members of the state board of education, neighborhood advisory commissioner, as well as initiatives for referendums, removals or referendums of statutes on a district ballot, for being residents of Washington DC.
In practice, the right to vote would extend to representatives of hostile or enemy governments of the United States [such as China, Russia, and Iran] and all those residing in the US capital for a consecutive month.
The B24-0300 or Local Residents Voting Rights Act was approved by the Democratic majority that controls the capital's municipal council, on November 4, 2022 and was sent to the mayor, Muriel Bowser for her signature on November 21. Law A24-0640 was published in the District of Columbia Registry on December 2, 2022, in book Vol 69 and Folio 014601.
On October 18, 2022, the city council approved with 12 votes in favor and one against, that foreigners vote in the US capital . This indicates that at least 800,000 non-citizens living in Washington DC can participate in local elections.
The only dissenting voice in the vote was councilwoman (D) Mary Cheh, who focused her criticism, not on non-citizenship or illegality, but on the short residence time required of those who are granted the benefit of the voting rights, that is, they must only reside in the District of Columbia for 30 days.
Critics of the law have warned that —in addition to the danger of giving rights to non-citizens— the regulation would cost taxpayers more than $3 million , because it establishes that the ballots of illegals and non-citizens must be different from the ones used by citizens.
It should be noted that it is not the first time that the Democrats seek to give the right to vote to illegal residents in the US capital. In 2013, the current mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser —when she was serving as a member of the District 4 Council— introduced a similar project that was not approved. Since then, the initiative has been reintroduced several times. The Democrats fight in favor of this cause arguing that residents should be allowed to participate in local decisions "because if they pay for the same services as citizens, then they should have a voice in the elections."
Democrats in Washington DC are not alone in promoting voting rights for illegal immigrants and non-citizens. A similar law was already approved in New York City that allowed undocumented immigrants and “dreamers” to vote in local elections. However, the law in the Big Apple was annulled in the middle of this year by District Judge Ralph Porzio of the Staten Island Supreme Court, who based his ruling on the violation of the XV Amendment to the United States Constitution. which reserves the right to vote for citizens.
Importantly, both New York City and the US capital were declared 'sanctuary' cities . ' Sanctuary' cities have laws that protect people who violate federal laws regulating entry into US territory. In these places, illegal immigrants can live without being detained or deported by the immigration authorities, and for the most part, they qualify for government social assistance for the mere fact of choosing them as their place of residence.
Government aid includes subsidies for housing, food, health, education, and cash. Most US citizens do not qualify for this type of public assistance.
Because they are 'sanctuary' cities, many immigrants who have entered illegally through the southern border of the United States have chosen Washington DC and New York as their places of residence, taking advantage of the benefits that these locations offer them. During the year 2022 the massive arrival of people has collapsed the finances of the governments of both cities.
Proposals to enfranchise non-citizens in pursuit of party loyalty are not original to Democrats. These mechanisms have been used by socialist governments in Latin America . In Venezuela, for example, during the Hugo Chávez regime, 220,000 illegal immigrants were granted Venezuelan nationality just two months before the recall referendum took place in 2004, where the majority of Venezuelans sought to remove Chávez from power. .
They ask to eliminate federal funds
On December 15, 2021, Florida State Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill seeking to prohibit federal funding to US states and localities that allow foreigners to vote in elections.
“It is absurd that US states are allowing foreign citizens to vote,” Rubio warned, adding that “if states and localities allow non-US citizens to vote in elections, those states and localities should not receive money from US citizen taxpayers.”
Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Kennedy (R-LA), Rick Scott (R-FL), and James Lankford (R-OK) joined Rubio in introducing this legislation. Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) introduced supplemental legislation in the House of Representatives.
The Protect Our Democracy Act, introduced by Rubio, seeks to prohibit federal funds from going to any state or local government that allows foreign citizens to vote in any type of federal, state or local election. Likewise, it tries to impose as a requirement, after the request, approval and receipt of federal funds, that the state or local government certify that foreign citizens were not allowed to vote.
This bill has not yet been approved by either the US Senate or the House of Representatives.
legal barriers
The question that arises after the passage of the Resident Voting Rights Act is: Will the next step for local legislators be to allow illegal immigrants and non-citizens to vote in federal elections?
For now, the US Constitution prevents it.
However, the alerts do not stop being formulated and among those who warn of this possibility is Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas who, like Marco Rubio, presented a bill to prevent the Council of the District of Columbia from making use of federal funds for non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, to vote in local elections.
“Voting is a right and a privilege enjoyed by American citizens in the United States. It is a responsibility that should not be treated lightly and must be protected ," said Cruz, who also recalled that "voters decide not only who will run our country, our cities and communities, but also how our taxes should be spent and what policies we must adopt.
Ted Cruz warned that granting this right to illegals and non-citizens “opens up our country to foreign influence and allows those who openly violate US law or even work for hostile foreign governments to become take advantage of and direct our resources against our will.”
For his part, Republican Senator for Arkansas, Tom Cotton, announced that he will present a resolution in Congress to prevent the participation of non-citizens and illegal immigrants in the Washington DC elections .
It is the power of the members of Congress to block bills of the legislature approved by the mayor, in accordance with the provisions of the DC Autonomy Law "Allowing illegal immigrants to vote is an insult to all voters in the United States (...) All Democrats should go on record as to whether they support this crazy policy, " Cotton said .
It is not the only existing barrier, as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrants Responsibility Act, approved by Congress in 1996, warns that non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections.
The approval of the Law by the legislature of the US capital is accompanied by a campaign —with the support of some media outlets, influencers, civil rights groups and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)— that seeks to disqualify any warning aimed at drawing attention to the serious consequences of granting the right to vote to non-citizens and the undocumented.
The Washington Post warned that this law would allow "employees of the embassies of governments that are openly hostile to the United States to cast their ballots." He stresses that "foreign students who are studying in Washington DC for a semester" could also do so.
For his part, John Rivas, an expert in social rights, warned that initiatives such as the Residents' Voting Rights Act offer the opportunity to validate those voices that indicate that the Democrats intend to expand their base of loyal voters , and specify the electoral benefits of the open border policy imposed by the administration of President Joe Biden that has allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country's southern border illegally.
Maibort Petit
Author of this article and founder of the Freedom Voice Reports. this article was written for the La Gaceta in Spanish.
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