Over 23 million immigrants eligible to vote in 2024: report

Over 23 million legal immigrants who are now U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election, according to a new report.

Published by the American Immigration Council, the report notes that of the 23,775,184 immigrants turned naturalized U.S. citizens who live in the U.S., 23,053,019 are eligible to vote.

Moreover, there are an additional 13,336,047 immigrants who are eligible for naturalization and may therefore soon be able to vote as well.

“As more immigrants naturalize and become eligible to vote, they continue to gain political power. The number of immigrant voters is only projected to rise in the next decade, and in some states, foreign-born voters are already capable of deciding elections,” the report states.

Based on the U.S. population size, it appears immigrants will for the time being continue to account for 1-in-10 of all eligible voters in 2024.

(Source: Pew Research Center)

“More than 23 million U.S. immigrants will be eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election, making up roughly 10% of the nation’s overall electorate,” the Pew Research Center reported in 2020.

“The number of immigrant eligible voters has increased steadily over the past 20 years, up 93% since 2000. By comparison, the U.S.-born eligible voter population grew more slowly (by 18%) over the same period, from 181 million in 2000 to 215 million in 2020,” the center’s report continued.

Keep in mind all these numbers refer to LEGAL immigrants. Regarding illegal migrants, Congress passed a law in 1996 barring them from voting in federal elections. However, they may still vote in state and local elections, depending on the jurisdiction’s laws.

As of June 2023, there were only seven states where illegals were barred from voting in any election, according to Ballotpedia: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Ohio.

“[T]here were over 25 million noncitizens living in the U.S. as of 2020. That included approximately 12 million permanent residents and 2 million temporary residents who were in the country with legal permission, as well as approximately 11 million immigrants who resided in the country without legal permission,” Ballotpedia further notes.

The issue of illegals voting came to the forefront around the start of the year when congressional Republicans voted in favor of a resolution to overturn two local Washington, D.C., bills from October 2022, including one that allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections, and another that undid the city’s rewrite of its criminal code.

Speaking on Fox News after the vote, Rep. Thomas Massie explained why he voted for the resolution. Allowing non-citizens to vote “is an attack” on democracy, he argued.

“It is an attack [on democracy], and after years of bleating about Russian interference, the Democrats have now voted to let Russian Nationals and Chinese Communists vote in our elections,” Massie said somewhat facetiously.

“So there are at least right now about 50,000 foreign nationals in Washington, DC. and … some of them have a visa, but about half of them don’t have a visa. They came here illegally,” he added.

“And I asked the [House Oversight Committee] ranking member, Jamie Raskin, since D.C. allows people who are in jail in prison to vote, does this mean that an illegal alien who is in prison can vote in Washington D.C. And he wouldn’t say that they couldn’t,” he concluded.

The vote was allowed thanks to the Home Rule Act of 1973, which permits D.C. residents to elect their own mayor and council but grants Congress the final say over the bills passed by said local leaders.

Amazingly, 41 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans against the non-citizen voting bill. Thirty-one likewise crossed the aisle to reject the city’s new criminal code. That was the good news.

The resolution to overturn the voting bill was introduced by House Oversight Committee chair James Comer a month earlier.

“Voting is a pillar of American democracy and a constitutional right that undeniably needs to be protected and preserved for citizens of this country. The D.C. Council’s reckless decision to allow non-U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants the right to vote in local elections is an attack on the foundation of this republic,” he said in a statement at the time.

“This move by the Council is irresponsible and will only exacerbate the ongoing border crisis, subvert the voices of American citizens, and open the door for foreign adversaries to peddle influence in our nation’s capital. It should go without saying: only Americans should have the power to influence local policy and guide their hard-earned taxpayer dollars to important initiatives. All Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, should strongly oppose this radical effort by the D.C. Council and support this Joint Resolution,” he added.

Vivek Saxena

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