Heritage: Democrats’ push for noncitizen voting is part of a push to rid America of citizenship

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NEW YORK CITY- Over the past ten years or so, perhaps more, a number of people have pushed for what amounts to open borders.

That push has accelerated in particular over the past year, with the Biden administration laying out the welcome mat for pretty much anyone who wishes to enter the United States.

That’s bad enough, but now there is a push to allow noncitizens to vote in our elections. To what end, most people don’t know but Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation believes he knows.

According to The Epoch Times, a recent law passed in New York City which will allow 800,000 noncitizens to vote in municipal elections is a clue of what the left has in mind, despite the fact that the law is likely unconstitutional and will probably be overturned in court.

 Von Spakovsky, manager of Heritage’s Election Law Reform Initiative and former member of the Federal Election Commission, says:

“It’s actually pretty clear that it violates the New York State Constitution—it has a provision that specifically says that you have to be a citizen to vote in all elections in the state of New Yor, and that includes local elections,” he told The Epoch Times earlier this month.

“I also think it is bad from a policy point of view because it basically cheapens and diminishes the concept of citizenship. It ought to be something that makes American citizens mad, particularly because of the potential number of aliens that’s involved.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was supposed to be an improvement over the communist-sympathizing Bill de Blasio, has not shown himself to be all that much different, at least from the standpoint of radical policies.

Adams allowed the measure to become law on Jan. 9, with the only requirement being that noncitizens have to have lived in the city for 30 days or more, and have authorization to work.

“I believe that New Yorkers should have a say in their government, which is why I have and will continue to support this important legislation,” Adams said in a statement. “I believe allowing the legislation to be enacted is by far the best choice, and look forward to bringing millions more into the democratic process.”

On Jan. 10, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court along with City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borrelli, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and a number of other Republicans.

 

 

While the law only applies to legal aliens, von Spakovsky said due to the city’s sanctuary policies, it would literally open the floodgates to potentially hundreds of thousands of additional aliens gaining the right to vote in the city’s elections.

“Does anybody really believe that the election department is going to investigate the lawful status of any alien who registers to vote?” he queried. “And so that means, of course, that lots and lots of illegal aliens will also get registered to vote.”

While von Spakovsky doesn’t currently believe states will try to change statewide election laws to accommodate voting rights for noncitizens, he said there is a push from far-left progressives to change the concept or definition of the word “citizen.”

“The whole point of the open borders crowd is to do two things; one extinguish the line between legal and illegal aliens in this country. And second, to frankly get rid of the whole concept of citizenship,” he said.

In arguing for the measure, city councilwoman Margaret Chin, of course a Democrats said prior to the vote that noncitizens struggle to become citizens, however, should still have the opportunity to vote in elections because they pay taxes and live and work in the city.

“They want to be citizens, they want to be able to vote for the president, but at least we have the opportunity to allow them to vote for the elected officials that are representing them in the city,” she said.

Von Spakovsky argued, however that merely paying taxes doesn’t equal citizenship.

“My response to that is that first of all, the vast majority of illegal aliens do not pay taxes. IN fact, they get free rides from many jurisdictions,” he said. “That is being pushed by the progressive left today because they believe that aliens will vote for them—and keep them in power.”

A couple of years ago, former President Donald Trump attempted to get a question included on the 2020 Census about citizenship status, however, was overruled in the courts.

Von Spakovsky says that stumbling block was a major win for the radical left in order to “blur the lines” between citizens and noncitizens.

“One of the main reasons they wanted that done is for apportionment purposes, they did not want congressional sets apportioned based on citizen population—if they did, places like California would lose congressional seats,” he said.

“That’s why California probably has four or five more congressional seats than they should have, because of the huge population of illegal aliens in the state.”

The Biden administration and radical leftists have made no secret about their desire to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. While a decade-old estimate puts the total of illegals at 11 million, it is likely double that number, with millions more crossing the southern border last year.

Two men arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a Chicago cop after shooting him during a traffic stop

For more on the scourge of illegal aliens, we invite you to read one of our prior reports:

DIG DEEPER

WILKES BARRE, PA – Republicans are demanding answers from the Biden administration after late night “ghost flights” of illegal immigrants were spotted landing at the Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport and other locations in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Republican Congressman Dan Meuser (R) sent a letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, the head of Homeland Security, said 130 immigrants were brought on a charted flight to Pennsylvania’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport earlier this month.

Those immigrants were then shipped out on buses to unknown locations. The Congressman said that the Biden administration  gave no notifications to his office or any local officials about the flights, the background or identity of the immigrants , or the final destination of the immigrants.

In the letter, Rep. Meuser wrote:

”I am extremely concerned by the recent reports that the federal government has flown illegal immigrants to the Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport (AVP).

It is my understanding that a total of 130 immigrants, 118 minors and 12 adults, arrived aboard an iAero charter flight on Friday, December 17 and were subsequently transported on buses from a  private hanger.

This flight seems to have occurred without airport officials receiving notice or a passenger manifest.

“The lack of communication and transparency surrounding this process is unacceptable.

Your agency failed to notify me or any other local officials of these activities, leaving us unable to answer the concerns of constituents in the communities we represent, and I expect immediate answers to the following questions.”

Congressman Meuser listed nine questions he demanded to be answered by the Biden administration, including how many illegal immigrants had been flown to the Wilkes Barre region, was Wilkes Barre the illegal immigrants’ final destination, was every immigrant tested for COVID-19, and what protocol is used to release immigrants into local communities.

Goc. Wolfe responded to questions about the flights, claiming immigrant children were flown into the region while “passing through.” However, news reports question the President’s truhfulness.

The Gateway Pundit wrote on January 2:

“Earlier today we reported how Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Wolf claimed the flights of illegal immigrants into his state only carried children who were transported through the state. We have evidence that what he said is not true. 

“One individual who recently flew into PA potentially matches a criminal from Mexico.  Gonzalo ‘El Chano’ Juarez-Limon, age 51, is wanted for a 1996 murder of a man in Mexico.  He potentially matches one of the individuals who recently disembarked a plane at a PA airport in the dark.”

Heritage: Democrats' push for noncitizen voting is part of a push to rid America of citizenship

AVP Is located along I-81 about midway between the cities of Wilkes Barre and Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, near the Pocono Mountains.

Congressman Meuser said the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania do not want illegal immigrants brought into their communities without information on their background and destinations:

“While the Biden administration has shown no concern for the lawlessness and chaos they have created at the border, the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania want nothing to do with it.

This administration’s decision to “catch and release” illegal immigrants into communities is a threat to my constituents and entirely unacceptable.

I am calling on you (Secretary Mayorkas)  and President Biden to immediately end this irresponsible practice in Northeast Pennsylvania and throughout the country.”

In his letter, Rep. Meuser reiterated that he wanted his questions answered within the “coming days”:

“The Biden administration has failed to secure the southern border and encouraged the mass migration that has been occurring for months.

It is unconscionable that such policies have proceeded amid a global pandemic, economic crisis, and epidemic drug use to which an open border certainly contributes.

This mismanagement is now directly impacting the people I represent, and I expect you will provide me the answers I need to address my constituents’’ concerns.”

During an interview with Newsmax, Rep. Meuser confirmed that many illegal immigrants are being settled in the Wilkes Barre region, with the Biden administration conducting the entire program in secrecy:

“They did their very best to make this very secretive. Planeloads of underage migrants are being secretly flown into northeast Pennsylvania with the idea of quietly resettling them across the region, and so it’s not just one plane thus far.

It’s been four and it is, in fact confirmed. We are receiving no information at all.”

The Republican Representative said that he spoke with employees at AVP, and they want to speak out about the flights, but that they have been “instructed” to keep quiet:

“I was there yesterday and spoke with many officials at the airport and as I stated, many were just very open and forthright about the situation there and just absolutely fed up with this situation.

They can’t talk on camera. But my experience was, they’ll tell you exactly what’s going on.”

Other Republicans are also speaking out about the flights. Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta said at first it was the Wilkes-Barre Scranton airport, and now it’s Lehigh Valley International Airport getting what he calls ghost flights full of illegal immigrants.

Barletta, who became a national figure while fighting against illegal immigration as Mayor of Hazleton city in Pennsylvania before joining the Trump administration, asked why there was so much secrecy surrounding the flights:

“Why at night? Why the secrecy? You know, to pick Christmas night, New Year’s night, and no one knows where they’re going. Shouldn’t those communities know?

“I served on the Homeland Security Committee, so I could tell you firsthand, it is near impossible to do criminal background checks on people that are coming from other countries.

Who are you calling for references? We need to make sure we’re protecting the people. It is the governor’s job, and it is the attorney general’s job not to have blind faith in the Biden administration and say, ‘Oh, well, you know, this isn’t our problem.’”

Gov. Wolf’s administration called Barletta’s comments a “publicity stunt” and said the flights were a federal matter. The state Attorney General’s Office referred all questions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said it was their legal responsibility to care for unaccompanied children in federal custody, and that if they can locate a vetted sponsor, they arrange travel to get the child with that sponsor.

An investigation by WBRE, a local NBC affiliate, reported:

“At least some of the flights flew from El Paso Texas to Wilkes-Barre, most of the passengers were unaccompanied children or teenagers who, according to the HHS, were being unified with a parent or a vetted sponsor.”

The Lehigh Valley Airport, near Allentown, confirmed it had received charter flights from HHS, and that future flights were scheduled. According to an airport spokesman:

“Under grant assurances with the Federal Aviation Administration and as a federally obligated public use airport, the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority does not have the ability to discriminate against any aeronautical activity by refusing or denying aircraft from arriving or departing Lehigh Valley International Airport.”

—

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Joseph Patrick is a retired police officer and a long-time law enforcement professional who is passionate about law enforcement and politics.

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