Newsline

National Security , Newsline

The Real HR 1 Problem: Illegal Immigrants Voting?

Posted on Friday, April 9, 2021
|
by Outside Contributor
|
5 Comments
whipgate

America already has a problem with illegal immigrants registering and voting, as demonstrated by numerous reports and cases. HR 1’s automatic registration threatens to make this problem much, much worse.

Glenn “Pinocchio” Kessler of the Washington Post asserts it is a “bogus” claim by Heritage Action that Democrats want to register “undocumented immigrants” to vote and denies that the automatic voter registration requirement in HR 1 will lead to that. He clearly doesn’t understand the practical problems arising from a voter registration system in which election officials do absolutely nothing to verify that individuals registering to vote are actually citizens.

Should anyone be surprised, though, when Kessler bases his assessment on the Brennan Center, a liberal advocacy group that litigates against any attempt by states to verify citizenship and that has tried to stop almost every attempt to reform the election process to ensure the security and integrity of elections?

Kessler dismisses as a minor problem the fact that the California Department of Motor Vehicles had to admit that, due to a “glitch,” 1,500 noncitizens (not one, as Kessler claims) may have been registered to vote in error through its new automatic voter registration system. What he fails to say is that California election officials didn’t discover this on their own; they only found out about the mistake after a Canadian citizen went to the Los Angeles Times and told them he had gotten a notice from the DMV telling him he had been registered to vote.

It’s notable that Kessler uses the politically correct term “undocumented immigrants” instead of “illegal immigrants,” which is another indication of his bias. How many of these people may have been automatically registered that California officials still don’t know about? This discovery was layered on top of mistakes made with twenty-three thousand other registrations by California officials, something else Kessler fails to mention. Reports indicate there were as many as one hundred thousand errors made by California’s automatic system in just the first year.

There is no way of knowing how many of these illegal immigrants may have become registered because California, as both a state that provides people with driver’s licenses and a sanctuary jurisdiction, has gone to extraordinary lengths to shield the information in its DMV files on the citizenship status of its licensees (and thus voter registrants). It won’t even provide that information to law enforcement authorities.

You wouldn’t know from Kessler’s analysis that “undocumented immigrants” registering and voting in California without detection by the state isn’t a new problem. An investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives of the 1996 election contest between Republican Rep. Bob Dornan and Democrat Loretta Sanchez concluded that literally hundreds of ineligible immigrants had voted in that election. That election wasn’t overturned because Sanchez squeaked by with just enough legal votes to win. But California election officials had no clue (or didn’t care) that hundreds of registered California voters were aliens. None were ever prosecuted, and California never took any steps to fix this security hole in its registration system.

Kessler also fails to mention that Illinois has had the same problem, with hundreds of illegal immigrants being registered because of a “technical glitch” in its new automatic voter registration system. Contrary to what you might hear from the Brennan Center, there sure are a lot of “glitches” occurring out there. Of course, Illinois is another sanctuary state that doesn’t actually verify citizenship when individuals register to vote and whose DMV’s shoddy practices allowed these immigrants to register to vote even before they implemented automatic voter registration.

Take Margarita Del Pilar Fitzpatrick, a native and citizen of Peru who registered to vote when she obtained an Illinois driver’s license and then voted twice. As in California, Illinois election officials didn’t detect this; the only reason we know about it is the investigation that occurred when she applied for U.S. citizenship. In fact, Kessler is apparently unaware of 52 U.S.C. § 20506(a)(5)(c), which specifically prohibits DMV officialseven when they know a license applicant is not a citizenfrom “mak[ing] any statement to an applicant or tak[ing] any action the purpose or effect of which is to discourage the applicant from registering to vote.”

Kessler doesn’t mention Pennsylvania either, where another “glitch” in the state’s DMV system registered over eight thousand illegal immigrants to vote—without election officials realizing they had a problem until years later. And they didn’t even have an automatic voter registration system.

How often is that going to happen all over the country, given the long, extensive list of state and federal agencies subject to the mandate in HR 1including public schools, which make it a point not to learn the citizenship status of their students? Just how accurate are their databases and how often are they going to make mistakes, or send information on to election officials when they are in doubt or when they don’t inquire about or really know the citizenship status of the individuals their agencies deal with, lest they be accused of trying to deny someone’s civil rights?

Local and state officials greatly fear such accusations and if they are in doubt, they will submit the registration rather than rock the boat and risk an accusation of having engaged in discriminatory behavior.

As to whether the Left and prominent Democrats want illegal immigrants to register and vote, which Kessler denies, one should ask why they are filing lawsuits against states like Kansas to stop new state laws that require those registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. Why did Terry McAuliffe, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, when he was governor of Virginia, veto a 2015 bill that would have required state courts to simply notify county election officials when individuals called for jury duty from the voter registration list were excused because they were not U.S. citizens or felons?

The only possible reason for vetoing such a bill is because you want illegal immigrants (and felons) to be able to registerand do so without detection or prosecution.

Heritage Action said in its ad against HR 1 that the Left wants to pass the bill to register illegal immigrants to vote. It is quite clear that the sponsors of HR 1, their denials and bogus “fact checks” notwithstanding, fully expect that the automatic voter registration mandate will result in illegal (and legal) immigrants being registered. Why else would they include a provision (§ 1015(a)(2)) saying that an immigrant who is automatically registered as a result of this mandate cannot be “prosecuted under any Federal or State law, adversely affected in any civil adjudication concerning immigration status or naturalization, or subject to an allegation in any legal proceeding that the individual is not a citizen of the United States”?

The truth is, that America already has a problem with illegal immigrants registering and voting, as demonstrated by numerous reports and cases. Given the vulnerabilities and security weaknesses in the U.S. registration system, HR 1’s automatic registration threatens to make this problem much, much worse. Thus, The Washington Post’s claims to the contrary are deserving of four Pinocchios and a “pants on fire” for good measure.

Hans von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, and Jessica Anderson is executive director of Heritage Action.

Share this article:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
5 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Thurman Cobble
Thurman Cobble
2 years ago

I grew up and was influenced greatly by many outstanding WWII Veterans and now I’m a 100% Disabled Veteran and a military retiree from the U.S. Air Force.
I volunteered, joining the Air Force back in 1966 when patriotism was very unpopular. I witnessed the good and evil in the war and the good and evil in America the three times I returned from overseas. In spite of the hateful Americans, I discovered that a career was quite tempting and before I realized it, I encountered retirement after more than 25-years military service with outstanding success in three different careers. I enjoyed the freedom the Air Force regulations provided from having to put up with the racial hate and discrimination that protects every member, in spite of their nationality, sex, race, and most any attitude of hate, harassment, or discrimination that I have encountered so prevalent across the civilian sectors of the northern and southern states. I’m not saying there was no discrimination or other problems in the military because, there was some problems! However, the times I encountered any prohibited discrimination and harassment, I used the regulations to notify and report any individuals that were instigators of the unacceptable behavior to receive counseling, appropriate punishment, or the appropriate discharge for such behavior. What is sad, during my time in the military, what was prohibited made military life quite satisfying but, outside the military in the civilian areas of America’s civilization, life was more unsatisfactory, dangerous, racist, harassing, discriminatory, radical, haters, etc….. After the military,
I lived and worked in Germany for 13-years until the company I worked for went bankrupt. My wife and I moved to the U.S. in 2004 and it has been a big disappointment because of corruption that we have experienced in the Federal and State governments, local city offices, police, service industries like plumbers, roofers, carpenters, electricians, auto repair industry, also in the medical industries that include and involve CNAs, Nurses, clinic and hospital supervisors, managers, executives; some of which are involved in nepotism, favoritism and job discrimination!
I suppose that I was in the military too long because I have witnessed many different communities in many different lands and countries that were good and bad. When we moved to the U.S., we were expecting it to be better, safer, and enjoyable but we found out different. It is now more like a third world socialist country with so many uncaring people out to grab all and anything they can grab. Our freedoms are being eroded, the police do not treat most with any type of respect whether innocent or not! Some people take offense to my wife and myself because she is not American and after being here since 2004, my wife will never apply for citizenship! She has been treated less than human since she completed studies and joined the workforce. She works and pays taxes but is not aloud to vote because she is a “Resident Alien”! I think she should be allowed to vote since she contributes so much to America and does more than “Any Illegal Alien/Immigrant! She’s a Registered Nurse, BCN. She works hard and is taken advantage of by her superiors and the superior’s friends because they also work in the same area. Because of her strong work ethic and her compassion for people some coworkers disappear when the customer load gets heavy which places more burden on the two or three that actually do work! Finally, my wife has had enough and she is taking my advice! Her and another colleague that is also discriminated against are giving are giving their notices of resigning from their positions soon.
I really liked the German work ethic because it was very much like the Air Force regulations when it come to job/career performance. The are very few Americans with a committed solid work ethic to working or even performing outstanding jobs or tasks. I have found that a lot of hires in the service industries must be watched and the jobs checked at different points towards the final completion of the total required work. If you don’t check on them, some will take shortcuts or just not provide a finished quality of completed work. There are a few who have a conscience and provide good high quality service but, these people are few and far between. The lazy ones, those with no pride in their work, or the ones who try to get rich on one service call by greatly overcharging for their services are many and it requires 5 to 10 job estimates to weed out the criminals.

HocasPocas
HocasPocas
2 years ago

Is this criminal activity ever going to end

Eric
Eric
2 years ago

With all the “automatic” registration States (CA. IL, PA) and their illegitimate registrations of Illegal immigrants which not only was counted, but also cancelled out legitimate votes, along with the fact that we all know that Georgia was a completely rigged election, President Trump was illegally evicted from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

An older blonde women laughing in the kitchen with a grey haired man.
AMAC’s Medicare Advisory Service
The knowledge, guidance, and choices of coverage you’re looking for. The exceptional service you deserve.
The AMAC App on 3 different iPhone
Download the AMAC App
The AMAC App is the place to go for insightful news wherever you are and whenever you want.
Breitbart
August 2, 2023: Asylum Seekers outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York. Migrants fill sidewalk outside the hotel waiting to register for shelter and being provided Pizza.
This dramatic lighting with storm clouds breaking and sunshine bursting through makes a great Easter photo illustration of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again.
Laken RIley, a 22 year old nursing student from Georgia who was killed by an illegal migrant.

Stay informed! Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter.

"*" indicates required fields

5
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x

Subscribe to AMAC Daily News and Games