Dems’ Immigrant Voter Plan Could Backfire

Democrats and their open border allies are using immigrants as political pawns to help the party bludgeon Republicans in the November 2016 elections.

Employing Donald Trump’s rhetoric as a rallying cry to induce immigrants to apply for naturalized citizenship, Democrats hope to create 1 million new liberal-leaning voters out of thin air — and perhaps elect Hillary Clinton president. They’ve done it before. But in a year in which immigration is a searingly hot issue, will such a cynical move backfire?

The move is a continuation of the decades-old liberal strategy of using immigration to create an electorate more favorable to big government and welfare-state ideology. But such a naked use if immigrants for political purposes could energize those who want to limit immigration, like Trump and his current and potential backers.

“A highly publicized account of Democrats pushing for more foreign workers to get more Democratic votes is the kind of thing that could cause them even more trouble with the traditional working class in this country,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA.

The effort is being driven by the National Partnership for New Americans and the Latino Victory Project, with backing from prominent liberal establishment groups like the Center for American Progress, Service Employees International Union and George Soros.

“Latinos and all immigrants need to use all of their power to defend their communities in this toxic political moment. That means naturalizing, registering and turning out to vote. The time is now,” said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the NPNA, during an event in Washington.

The goal is to mobilize at least 1 million of the approximately 9 million legal residents in the U.S. who are eligible for naturalized citizenship.

The goal is to mobilize at least 1 million of the approximately 9 million legal residents in the U.S. who are eligible for naturalized citizenship but have yet to take the plunge.

Supporters of the drive neglect to mention that the reason for their push is not benevolence alone, but that immigrants, particularly Asians and Hispanics, vote overwhelmingly Democratic and provide a buffer against a possible Republican presidency.

“Democrats recognize that when you bring in lots of people who are dependent on government services, they are a natural constituency,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for Federation for American Immigration Reform. “It confounds me that the Republicans haven’t figured this out yet. Their stupidity is just incredible.”

Roughly half of the unnaturalized immigrant pool is Hispanic, a group that voted for President Obama at a 71-percent clip in 2012. Should that percentage remain the same, Democrats would gain approximately 350,000 net votes from Latinos nationwide in 2016. If the naturalization efforts are focused in key swing states with large Hispanic populations like Florida, Colorado, Nevada and Virginia, it might provide Democrat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the edge she needs to carry each state.

In the crucial state of Florida, which Obama carried by just 75,000 votes in 2012, roughly 830,000 immigrants are eligible to naturalize, according to NPNA. Highlighting such shenanigans presents an opportunity for Trump to expand his base of voters while raising concerns among Republicans who hadn’t been too focused on immigration.

An overt Soros-backed plan to use immigration for political purposes could help eventual Republican nominee — whether Trump or someone else — get out their own voters.

 “Democrats are willing to continue to depress Americans’ wages in order to bring in more foreign workers that they will believe will vote Democratic”

Beck of NumbersUSA said Republicans must counter by toning down rhetoric and focusing on the negative impact of open border policies on Middle America.

“Democrats are willing to continue to depress Americans’ wages in order to bring in more foreign workers that they will believe will vote Democratic,” he said. “It’s tying the two together. It’s not only a cynical ploy, but who’s it hurting?”

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., one of the most strident open border advocates in Congress, notes that naturalization rates have historically increased during election years. But he fails to mention that such occurrences are due at least in part to centralized coordination by Democrats.

In 1996, Vice President Al Gore was the point man in Democratic program called Citizenship USA, which created a “Clinton voter mill” of naturalized immigrants via a “hurried, mistake-prone effort by federal authorities,” the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

With Immigration and Naturalization Service under political pressure from President Bill Clinton’s administration to accelerate the pace of naturalizations, fraud became widespread, criminal background checks were ignored or skipped entirely, and English proficiency requirements were “completely disregarded.”

The end result? More than 1 million people became naturalized citizens that year.