Leftist Senate Witnesses Won’t Say Only Citizens Should Vote

Republicans have long accused Democrats of encouraging illegal immigration in order to usher in a wave of new voters who would overwhelmingly support their party’s candidates.

While Democrats have generally dismissed such claims as unfounded, a congressional hearing this week seemed to reveal an openness among influential figures on the left to the idea of allowing undocumented migrants to take part in the electoral process.

Measures have already been advanced in jurisdictions including Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, to extend voting rights to non-citizens, and a string of left-leaning witnesses refused to condemn such policies when asked directly by Sen. Mike Lee (UT).

Democrats don't see illegal immigrants… they see bodies that will shift Congressional districts and voters.

That's why they won't do anything to stop them from flooding over the border, want to start calling them "newcomers" and eliminate voter ID.

It's all a voting scheme.

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) March 10, 2024

Referring his questions to a panel of witnesses, Lee asked for a simple yes or no response.

“Do you believe that only citizens of the United States should be able to vote in federal elections?” he asked.

Damon T. Hewitt, who serves as executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, declined to provide either of the requested answers.

“We don’t have a position about non-citizens voting in federal elections,” he declared. “We believe that’s what the current laws are, and so we’re certainly fighting for everyone who is eligible under current law to vote.”

For her part, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project Lydia Camarillo claimed that such provisions come down to “a decision of the state law,” prompting Lee to seek clarification.

“It’s a decision of state law as to who should vote in federal elections?” he asked.

Camarillo replied: “States decide who gets to vote in various elections, and in federal elections I believe that we should be encouraging people to naturalize and then vote.”

When pressed further to reveal whether she thinks “that the federal government should have no say in who votes in a federal election,” she concluded: “I don’t have a position on that.”

American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project Director Sophia Lin Lakin provided another equivocal response.

“Federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections and our focus is on enabling all eligible voters to be able to vote and cast their ballot,” she declared.

When Lee followed up by asking whether “people registering to vote should provide documentary proof of their citizens in order to register to vote,” the Democrat-aligned witnesses continued their evasive responses.

Lakin, however, did make the dubious claim that “documentary proof of citizenship or requirements are often discriminatory.”