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DC council member takes heat for being ONLY dissenter against move to allow non-citizens right to vote

October 7, 2022 | | Print Article

All the illegal aliens being shipped off to Washington, D.C. by GOP border state governors like Texas’s Greg Abbott may soon have the right to vote thanks to a stunning decision this week by the D.C. Council.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council voted 12-1 to move forward with a bill that would allow the illegal aliens who reside in the capital city “to vote for positions in the city, such as mayor, council member and attorney general,” according to station WTOP.

“If the council approves the bill in its final vote next month, noncitizens would be allowed to vote as long as they are 18 years of age or older at the time of the election, and have lived in the District for at least 30 days,” the station reported.

Only one council member voted against the bill, and partly because of all the illegals being shipped to D.C. from Texas, Florida, and other states.

“Could someone who was put on a bus from Texas and dropped off at the vice president’s property … then vote in our local elections?” dissident councilmember Mary M. Cheh fretted during Tuesday’s hearing.

Bothered by this possibility, Cheh reportedly proposed requiring would-be illegal alien voters to have lived in the district for much longer than 30 days to vote.

“My concern has nothing to do with citizenship. Fine, non-citizens should be able to vote in local elections. Whether you’re documented or undocumented. Fine. You should be treated the same. My concern is also not with strangers per se, who have lived in this country, have some connection on a cultural level, some connection of experience in our community,” she said, according to DCist.

“I find it unacceptable to say that somebody who has had no connection at all with the United States, with its culture, its democracy, can be dropped off here reside for 30 days, and vote in a local election. What is wrong with asking they stay a little bit longer?”

Based on her remarks, left-wing critics predictably now say she’s a racist:

“Cheh’s ‘questions’ are rooted in age-old xenophobia and racism,” Abel Amene of the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America said to The Washington Post.

Cheh’s more leftist councilmember peers apparently didn’t care for her proposal either.

“[A] number of her colleagues rejected [her] argument, pointing out that students who come to D.C. to go to college are eligible to vote within 30 days of arriving, as well as professionals who come to the city for new jobs,” DCist reported.

“Someone coming from Oregon is the same stranger as someone coming from Texas. Voting gives people a connection to their community,” councilmember Robert White reportedly said.

“Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community and our city. They, like all D.C. residents, deserve to have a say in our government,” the bill’s primary sponsor, councilmember Charles Allen, reportedly added.

“This bill is in line with our D.C. values, and this council’s history of expanding the right to vote and welcoming new voices into our political process and government,” he continued.

(Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The irony of all this is that D.C. Mayor Muriel has been complaining relentlessly about all the illegals being forwarded to her city.

“We’re not a border town. We don’t have an infrastructure to handle this type of and level of immigration to our city. … We’re not Texas,” she said to reporters last month:

But the argument could be made that allowing illegals to vote will only incentivize more of them to voluntarily hop aboard buses headed to D.C., no?

Yet Bowser supports the measure. In fact, the original bill to grant voting rights to illegal aliens was her brainchild.

“The proposed measure is one of the most progressive voting rights initiatives for non-citizen immigrants in the United States. It was first introduced in 2013 by now-Mayor Muriel Bowser when she was a Ward 4 Councilmember. It has been reintroduced several times by other city councilmembers, but it failed to get out of committee until this year,” according to People’s World.

Moreover, it was only six years ago that Bowser issued a statement reaffirming D.C.’s status as a sanctuary city.

“The values, laws, and policies of Washington, DC did not change on Election Day. We celebrate our diversity and respect all DC residents no matter their immigration status. We are a sanctuary city because we know that our neighborhoods are safer and stronger when no one is afraid to call on our government for help, and when our police can focus on protecting and serving,” she said at the time.

Based on all this, some would argue that Bowser is now reaping exactly what she’s sown …

Vivek Saxena
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