Latest news with #noncitizenVoting
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crackdown on illegal immigrants voting in DC elections launched by Senate GOP
EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans, led by Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, are gearing up to wield their federal oversight powers to force Washington, D.C., to demand an end to what they call the capital's dangerous experiment of allowing illegal immigrants and noncitizens to vote in local elections. The development follows reports that roughly 400 noncitizens voted in the 2024 general election, with about 100 participating in the primary. Federal law supremacy prohibits state or local jurisdictions from allowing illegal immigrants from voting in federal elections, since a measure by then-Rep. C.W. Young, R-Fla., called the IIRAIRA passed in 1996. However, state and municipal leaders have the ability to allow illegal immigrants to vote in lower-tier elections, and Washington, D.C., is one of several that has. 148 Democrats Back Noncitizen Voting In Dc As Gop Raises Alarm About Foreign Agents Congress, meanwhile, has unique constitutionally-explicit leverage over the governance of the District on any matter, including local affairs and the overturning of council-passed laws. Read On The Fox News App Britt's bill would prohibit noncitizens from voting in District elections and repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 – which the City Council passed that authorized noncitizen voting in municipal elections. "This isn't just about local school boards or fixing potholes. This is about the direction of our nation's capital," Britt said. Election Investigation Uncovers Alleged Illegal Voting By Noncitizens And Double Voters In Multiple States "In the city representing the strongest democracy in the world, the D.C. City Council chose to flagrantly violate one of democracy's core principles. This is a slap in the face to every American citizen, whether they live in DC or not, who should be the only voters deciding who represents them in every election and at every level of government. "I am hopeful we gain bipartisan support in the Senate for this commonsense bill--it is our duty to protect the votes of hardworking American citizens and those who came to our country legally and took the time and effort to go through the naturalization process. Ultimately, this is about strengthening the integrity of our elections." Noncitizen voters spoke to the Washington Post after the last election, including a woman named Ana Lemus who came to the U.S. more than a decade ago from El Salvador. Her daughter, who was 4 years old at the time, said she is voting to help address "wealth inequality and police brutality" among other concerns. In the House, Rep. August Pflueger, R-Texas, is championing companion legislation. While Britt's bill so far only has Republican co-sponsors, Pflueger's effort has garnered about 50 Democratic supporters. In addition to Washington, select communities in Maryland, New York and Vermont – plus California in certain school board races – allow illegal immigrant voting. The first city to allow it was Takoma Park, Maryland, back in 1992. Current Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., helped spearhead that "Share The Vote" effort in the community, which abuts the nation's capital to its article source: Crackdown on illegal immigrants voting in DC elections launched by Senate GOP
Wall Street Journal
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Trumping D.C.'s Progressive Pipe Dreams
The House voted this week, with 56 Democratic ayes, to stop the District of Columbia from letting noncitizens vote in local elections. Then a resolution to quash D.C. 'sanctuary' policies passed with 11 Democrats. Both must hurdle a Senate filibuster, but note this show of bipartisanship by Democrats afraid of unpopular progressive excesses. Only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections, but a few localities have experimented in recent years with letting aliens vote for mayor or school board. The D.C. City Council passed a law in 2022 to enfranchise noncitizens who have a mere 30 days of residency. That's a worse version of a bad idea, and Congress has a right to intervene, since D.C. is a federal enclave. A resolution to overturn the law in 2023 passed the House with 42 Democratic votes, but it didn't get through the Senate.
Washington Post
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
House votes to repeal D.C. laws on noncitizen voting, police discipline
House lawmakers voted Tuesday to repeal a pair of D.C. laws that have been friction points for years between the deep-blue city and Republicans in Congress: a law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections and another that prohibits the D.C. police union from bargaining on officer discipline. The two efforts would still have to pass in the Senate.
Fox News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
148 Democrats back noncitizen voting in DC as GOP raises alarm about foreign agents
The majority of House Democrats voted in favor of allowing non-citizens to participate in Washington, D.C. elections on Tuesday. The House of Representatives passed on a bill led by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, to prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting in elections in the nation's capital. It passed 266 to 148, with 56 Democrats joining Republicans in passing the measure. One Democrat voted "present," while 148 voted against the bill. "I believe strongly in not having federal overreach, but we have jurisdiction, Congress has jurisdiction over Washington, District of Columbia…and we don't like to utilize our jurisdiction and our authority, but in this case, they've gone too far," Pfluger told Fox News Digital in an interview before the vote. D.C.'s progressive city council passed the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act in 2022, granting non-U.S. citizens the ability to vote in local elections if they've lived in the district for at least 30 days. Non-citizens can also hold local elected office in the D.C. government. The local measure has been a frequent target of GOP attacks, with Republican national security hawks raising alarms about the possibility of hostile foreign agents participating in D.C. elections. But progressive Democrats like Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., who spoke out against the bill on Tuesday afternoon, have dismissed that as an implausible scenario. "Republicans claim that Congress has a constitutional duty to legislate on local D.C. matters, but this is historically and legally incorrect. Republicans legislate on local D.C. matters only when they think they can score political points, such as by demonizing immigrants," Frost said during debate on the House floor. "They only bring it up to the floor when they think they can score political points, taking away the democratic rights of people here in D.C. and home rule." Frost also argued that it was "highly unlikely" foreign officials would vote in those elections, claiming they would have to "renounce their right to vote in their home country" and because "DC has no authority in federal matters." But Pfluger, who spoke with Fox News Digital before the vote, was optimistic that it would get at least some Democratic support. He noted that 52 Democrats voted for the bill when it passed the House in the previous Congress. It was never taken up in the formerly Democrat-controlled Senate, however. "It's hard to go back to your district as a Democrat and say, yeah, I want foreign agents to be able to vote in our elections – 'Oh yeah, it's not federal elections,' some may say. But it has an impact on the way the city is run," Pfluger said. "This could be Russian embassy personnel, they could be Chinese embassy personnel – a number of folks. It's just wrong. It goes against the fabric of our society," he added. Another bill receiving a vote on Tuesday is legislation that would grant D.C. police the ability to negotiate punishments via collective bargaining, and would help shield the capital's police force from at least some liability by installing a statute of limitations against the Metropolitan Police Department. That legislation was introduced by Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y.
