USA Today (Op-Ed)
By Ross K. Baker
August 20, 2018
In American politics today, for every action there is a equal or greater overreaction.
Accordingly, white supremacy demonstrations bring forth the Antifa gangs. Separating mothers from their children at the Mexican border triggers calls to abolish ICE and the view that any hardship merits asylum. So it is with the widely reported hostility to immigrants or people who look like they ought to be immigrants. This happened to the Attorney-general of New Jersey who is a Sikh and wears a turban. The logic proceeds then, on the loopier fringes of the left, that we must be more elaborately welcoming to immigrants. Such ingratiating gestures in one American city, Portland, Maine, includes extending the right to vote in municipal elections to the city’s growing population of non-citizens.
Granting voting rights is a perverse incentive
Having ended up on the wrong end of a public referendum on the matter several years ago, Mayor Ethan Strimling wants to put the matter in front of the Portland City Council to authorize yet another referendum. The last one ended up 52-48 percent against allowing the non-citizens to vote. Mayor Strimling reasons, I suppose, that things will go his way this time because of opposition to President Trump’s immigration policies, even though it is questionable whether, under state laws, non-citizens can legally vote at either the state or local level.
Although Portland has not declared itself a sanctuary city, it has actively sought out immigrants as residents. A sizable Somali community has been established for several decades. More recently, they have been joined by immigrants, including asylum seekers, from Central Africa and Sudan.
The argument made by the mayor and pro-immigration activists who favor the proposal for giving the vote to non-citizens is not without merit. For example, many have children in the Portland schools and that would give them reason to want to participate in school board elections. But there are solid reasons for Portlanders to oppose this proposal. The principle objection is that it sets up a perverse incentive.
The right to vote is a component of citizenship. It is not a dispensation granted to those who may or may not apply for citizenship. The benefits of U.S. citizenship are both tangible and intangible but remaining a resident alien is not without its benefits. In addition to federal benefits, there is a General Assistance program funded largely by the state; immigrants can receive around $800 a month. Unless the emotional urge to pursue citizenship is unusually strong, the combination of the social welfare benefits and the right to vote in city elections diminishes the incentive to jump through the hoops required of those who seek to become citizens.
This would create a new constituency
An influx of immigrants has been the salvation of some American towns that were headed for extinction. Portland is far from being a dying town. It has shown remarkable vitality. It has been especially successful in attracting millennials who find Portland’s manageable size and natural attractions an ideal location not too far from major East Coast population centers.
So why the push to include non-citizens in the electorate and why now? The mayor, a Democrat, is obviously counting on antipathy to Donald Trump to induce progressives looking for any opportunity to stick it to the president to put the measure over the top this time. We may suspect that the mayor sees in these newly-enfranchised residents a healthy crop of New Democratic voters.
It is understandable that a politician would want to ingratiate himself with a sizable portion of the population in his city. But bestowing the power to vote on those who have not and may never achieve citizenship debases the value of the franchise. Nor should it be reduced to a mere symbol of disapproval of the president. Donald Trump may well be worthy of disapproval, but there are better forms of opposition to his immigration policies than to create a new political constituency of non-citizen voters.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment