Controlling who gets to vote is what some politicians have been doing for a long time. Think of the Federalists and their Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 that extended the time of residency required for citizenship from 5 years to 14 years. The majority of immigrants at that time favored and voted for the Democratic-Republicans, not the Federalists.
Then there was the election of 1860, where some northern states let non-citizen immigrants vote if they promised to seek citizenship in the future.
The Southern Democrats of my youth stopped blacks from voting by requiring then to read and explain part of the US Constitution to the satisfaction of the registrar. I boned up on the Constitution before I registered to vote, but they didn’t ask me anything about the Constitution. I was white.
The current border policy has effectively let millions of aliens into the country. In addition, in the middle of the night some of the aliens were flown to various other states. Sounds to me like a way to affect the outcome of future elections.
Thank you for giving me more insight on this particular point. I knew about the Alien and Sedition act, what I didn't know was that it was specifically created so that the party in power could hang on to power. That is eye opening.
Then there was the election of 1860, where some northern states let non-citizen immigrants vote if they promised to seek citizenship in the future.
I did not know that either. It probably wouldn't have changed the election, but the motivation seems clear.
The Southern Democrats of my youth stopped blacks from voting by requiring then to read and explain part of the US Constitution to the satisfaction of the registrar. I boned up on the Constitution before I registered to vote, but they didn’t ask me anything about the Constitution. I was white.
I perceive you must be quite a bit older than I am. :)
The current border policy has effectively let millions of aliens into the country. In addition, in the middle of the night some of the aliens were flown to various other states. Sounds to me like a way to affect the outcome of future elections.
I think the Rockefeller Republicans like the effect it has on the labor market, and I think the Democrats like the effect it has on their hold on power.
The people being screwed are everyone else in America.
Most poor immigrants in 1860, just as today, lived in Big Cities and voted for Democrats.
It had nothing to do with Republicans.