Appeals Court Forbids New York City from Allowing Foreigners to Vote

Jim Vallee / shutterstock.com
Jim Vallee / shutterstock.com

A New York appeals court has agreed that New York City is not allowed to let foreign hordes vote in local elections. The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that overturned a city law that would have allowed nearly one million foreigners to have a say in how the city is governed. This would have completely swamped the votes of black New Yorkers and Republican voters in all future elections.

The 51-member city council in New York City passed the new law in January 2022. It would have granted voting rights to more than 800,000 foreigners with green cards, visas, or work permits. The only restriction on voting was that the foreigners must have lived in New York City for 30 days before the election.

A group of black New Yorkers, the New York Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, and even Democrat city councilmember Robert Holden joined together and sued Mayor Eric Adams and the city Board of Elections. New York’s Supreme Court ruled in June of 2022 that it’s a violation of the state’s constitution—not to mention, literally insane—to allow foreigners to vote in local elections. Voting rights in the New York Constitution are explicitly reserved for Americans.

The New York Appellate Division upheld the decision on Wednesday, writing in its ruling:

“Since this is, in part, a declaratory judgment action, we remit the matter to the Supreme Court, Richmond County, for the entry of a judgment, inter alia, declaring that the Local Law is null and void on the grounds that it violates the New York State Constitution and the Municipal Home Rule Law.”

That should put an end to the ridiculous idea of letting foreigners vote in American elections, at least for now. Imagine the hatred that the New York City Council must have toward American children to pass such a law.

Voting is not just about the temporal governance of your community or country. Voting is also about shaping the sort of society that you want your children and grandchildren to inherit. Do you want your grandkids to live in a nation that is free, prosperous, and safe? Or do you want them to grow up in a nation that resembles Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where violent gangs will chop you up with machetes for having the wrong skin color?

For most parents, that’s an obvious choice and it is why you do not allow foreigners to determine the destiny of your children and grandchildren through voting.

It’s also insane to let foreigners vote because America is such a unique place in the world. Concepts like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, gun rights, and equal justice under the law are totally alien to most foreigners. Almost all foreigners come from socialist or communist countries, so they naturally gravitate to the one political party in America that does not respect the US Constitution or the rule of law. Letting foreigners vote allows Democrats to rig elections in their favor, and everyone knows it.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) sued the city on behalf of black New Yorkers. PILF President J. Christian Adams stated after the appellate ruling, “Members of the New York City Council made explicit statements that race was the motivation behind this voting law. In America, we do not allow race-based voting restrictions.”

The Appellate Division noted that the law eventually would have opened the possibility for foreigners to hold elected office in New York City. That’s obviously true as well. The good news is that this insane law has been stopped in its tracks. Now if only the courts in California felt the same way about preserving American democracy.