Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have announced their intention to promote a bill that aims to prohibit non-citizens from voting. This announcement was made during an event at Mar-a-Lago. It is important to note that allowing non-citizens to vote is already against the law.
Mr. Johnson plans to hold a press conference at the former president’s residence on Friday, as part of the long-standing Republican criticism against Democrats. However, there is limited evidence to support the claim that non-citizen voting is a prevalent problem in various states. According to a study conducted by the Brennan Center, which analyzed the 2016 election, researchers discovered that only 0.0001 percent of voters across 42 jurisdictions, accounting for 23.5 million votes, were suspected to be non-citizens who managed to cast their votes. This amounts to an estimated total of 30 incidents.
Donald Trump has continuously made claims of election fraud and has also put forth his unsupported theory that migrants are in the United States because they are being “signed up” to vote.
Non-citizens are currently prohibited from voting in United States federal elections as per the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Additionally, no states permit non-citizens to vote in state-level elections, and the same applies to most local elections.
In a recent development, Mr. Trump made use of Truth Social on Wednesday to share his thoughts on the matter. It was a direct response to the reports suggesting that President Joe Biden might be considering executive actions to address the issue of migrant crossings.
According to the former president, Mr. Biden is against deportations and aims to transform illegal migrants into voting citizens.
Research on voting fraud involving non-citizens reveals that the occurrence of such cases is not excessively high and has been extremely rare in the past.
According to The Heritage Foundation’s database, there have been only 85 reported cases of alleged non-citizen voting in the United States since 2002.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, there are only three states and Washington DC that have municipalities allowing noncitizens to vote in select local elections. However, these instances are quite rare.
According to the center, non-citizens are unlikely to attempt voting as it would pose the risk of deportation and the revocation of their legal status. Moreover, participating in a federal election illegally can lead to a fine or even a one-year prison sentence.
Amidst the race to the White House, border security has emerged as a prominent topic. President Joe Biden and Mr. Trump have been exchanging accusations regarding their respective border policies. Against this backdrop, a new bill has been introduced.
President Biden has consistently criticized President Trump and his Republican supporters for obstructing a bipartisan compromise bill earlier this year. The bill aimed to implement significant reforms in the US immigration system, with the condition of providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in return.
In a recent interview with Univision, the president shared a surprising story about his conversation with Trump. According to him, when Trump discovered that he supported a certain idea and would receive credit for it, he took immediate action. He got on the phone, checked with the Republicans, and urged them not to support it, as it would benefit Biden. The president emphasized that this account is not a joke, but rather a literal truth.
“Why would anyone base their vote on whether it benefits someone in politics? A major piece of legislation should be judged solely on its merits. This legislation is good, and I am determined to see it through.”
