12 JANUARY 13, 2022 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Citizenship and expanding rights
During his interview on CNN’s State
of the Union on Jan. 9, Mayor Eric
Adams was asked a rather startling
question by the program’s host,
Jake Tapper: Does he believe the noncitizen
voting bill that the City Council
passed last month “makes a mockery of
citizenship”?
The question came a day aft er Adams
announced he would not stand in the
way of the “Our City, Our Vote Bill” (as it’s
known) from becoming the law of New
York City. The bill gives some 800,000
noncitizens in the fi ve boroughs — working
visa or green card holders — the right
to vote in municipal elections; state and
federal elections would remain off -limits
to them.
Adams rejected the notion that the
new bill undermines citizenship eff orts
or makes a mockery of them. The fact is
that the noncitizen bill, complicated as
the calculus might be, does not provide
full voting rights to noncitizen New
Yorkers.
It does, however, grant those noncitizens
who abide by visa and green
card requirements the ability to at least
choose the leaders of the city in which
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Letting noncitizens vote in municipal elections isn’t enough. The city should encourage noncitizens to pursue
and attain citizenship so they can enjoy the full rights of all Americans to participate in their democracy.
Photo by Paul Frangipane
they live to run a government for which
they pay taxes.
The bill is not, as its opponents claim,
a “power grab” or some other deleterious
ulterior motive which they’ve concocted.
It’s not lost on us that most of these opponents
also stand against eff orts to
make it easier for American citizens to
vote because, though they won’t admit
it, more people voting gets in the way of
their own unpopular political agenda.
But letting noncitizens vote in municipal
elections isn’t really good enough.
The city should encourage noncitizens to
pursue and attain citizenship so they can
enjoy the full rights of all Americans to
participate in their democracy.
The Mayor’s Offi ce of Immigrant Affairs
provides an array of free programs
to help New Yorkers on their path to
citizenship. You can learn more about
the program at nyc.gov/immigrants or
by conducting a simple Google search —
but the information about this program
isn’t as widely known as it should be.
Red tape often slows down the
citizenship process, and the city should
do more to press its Capitol Hill representatives
to pass legislation cutting much of
that tape away. It takes an average of 14
1/2 months for an individual to navigate
the citizenship process; Congress should
review the procedures and determine
the best ways to make the process secure,
yet more expedient.
All New Yorkers should be part of
their democracy, and this city’s government
should do more to promote full
membership in this great country.
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