Posted on 07/05/2004 12:35:21 AM PDT by I_Love_My_Husband
Plan would grant vote to noncitizens
By Adriel Hampton | Staff Writer
Published on Friday, July 2, 2004
URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/070204n_vote
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A reform measure that would allow noncitizens with children in the San Francisco Unified School District to cast ballots in Board of Education elections is moving forward and appears to have the needed support to go before voters in November.
The initiative, perhaps the first step toward giving full voting rights for immigrants, could utilize a "blind registry" system, where parents and guardians are signed up to vote through district records. If passed, it would blend citizens and immigrants, according to Carlos Petroni of the "Parents United for Education" campaign.
"We really want to use the campaign to focus folks on the fact that it is very difficult for immigrants to become citizens," said proponent David Chiu, a board member of Chinese for Affirmative Action. "It takes about 10 years for a legal immigrant to become a citizen, and that's due to the huge bureaucratic backlogs and red tape that they face with the federal government."
Illegal immigrants could also vote under the proposal, introducing some of the same concerns present in the statewide debate over whether to legalize driver's licenses for undocumented workers.
"Proponents of both [proposals] can say this is a way that people who are already here can engage," said Laura Hill, a research fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California. "The other side has arguments as well -- [that immigrants] should participate in the same rules and regulations as everyone else."
Karthick Ramakrishnan, also with the institute, said that for those who concede the right of undocumented immigrant's children to be schooled here, it's not a difficult leap to extend Board of Education voting rights to their parents.
"You already have a lot of immigrant parents who are not citizens but nevertheless participate in school board meetings and in their children's education, and this could be another way for them to be involved," he said.
Immigrants comprise about a fifth of voting-age Californians. Proponents of the San Francisco initiative estimate as many as one-third of the 60,000 kids in public schools here have at least one noncitizen parent.
Cities in Maryland, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts have already allowed forms of noncitizen voting.
INTREP - what part of "illegal" do't they understand?????
ping
LOL
Then later, when the animal rights advocates demand equal rights for mammals, we can extend suffrage to those creatures as well.
Alas, insects will just have to wait.
i grew up in fremont ca,back then it was a small town flags parades ect.ect now for fouth of july parade one councilmember wanted 300 flags of all nations in the parade back it down to 50 then 35 the boy scouts finally said no way only the us flag will fly i did not go to see it who knows what happend?
Some of these people pushing this belong to the below organizations:
http://www.cpusa.org/
http://www.dsausa.org/
DSA's "Progressive Caucus" Links below:
http://bernie.house.gov/pc/
http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp
They are the Enemy Within!!!!
It should not be easy or a fast process to become a naturalized citizen.
It needs to take a long time to become a citizen. The United States is a very different nation than any other.
A citizen of The United States has more freedom than nearly any other country an individual needs to be come acclimated to that freedom and the historical background of that freedom.
Our freedom has to be protected. Part of that protection is ensuring that those who come here hoping to share those freedoms understand the nature of freedom and are ready to accept the responsiblities of exercising and protecting freedom.
Still, "no taxation without representation." May I suggest that if aliens aren't allowed to vote in American elections, they should be immune from American taxation?
Doesn't mention why this has gained traction in SanFran. SanFran is near the top for cost of living, and cost of raising children in the big cities in the country. The number of childrenin SanFran unified is dropping, while the numbers of children across Cali enrolled is raising, mostly do to cost. This skewed reality means greater % of children in the school system are from immigrant households.
How are school taxes collected in CA? Through property taxes? Don't immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, have the lowest rate of home ownership in the country? Probably even lower in CA, and even lower still in SanFran. Truly 3 wolves and a sheep deciding whats for dinner.
Aren't school taxes raised through property tax levies? In this age of mass immigration in CA, isn't this literally immigrants flexing their new numerical and political muscle. The only immigrants who will vote against this (in a small bloc) are those who see past the BS that will be spouted and understand that their rent will increase when school budgets increase. Immigrants who own homes will fall within regular splits for or against any budget.
The nose is under the tent. Pretty soon they will demand to vote in fed elections. Then, if illegals here can vote for Pres., why not everyone else in the world...since what the US does has such a far reaching effect, it's only fair. The UN and the World Court will think that's a swell idea, and there goes the neighborhood.
They need to be reminded that immigration is a federal issue, and that they cannot as a local government, grant voting privileges to people who cannot vote legally or reside in this country.
Can these officials go to the countries of origin and vote in elections in lets say Mexico?
RECIPROCATION!!!!!
In California, a large proportion of sales taxes also go to education, as well as from the state general fund. CA spends a lot of money on schools for little return.
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