Queens lawmakers split on immigrant voting bill

The City Council is expected to pass a bill that would allow legal permanent residents to vote in municipal elections next week.  Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye

The New York City Council is preparing this week to take a vote on a bill that would allow green card holders and other legal permanent residents to cast ballots in local elections.

The bill, which would be the biggest reform to local elections since the implementation of ranked-choice voting last year, is all but guaranteed to pass the council, with well over half its members signed on as co-sponsors.

Intro 1867, which was introduced by City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez in January of last year, would amend the city’s charter to allow for noncitizen, lawful permanent residents and those with legal work permits – there are around 800,000 of them in New York City – to vote in municipal elections, including in mayoral, comptroller, City Council and borough president races.

“This is not about doing a favor to immigrants by allowing them to vote,'' Rodríguez, who was once a green card holder himself, said at a recent City Council hearing. “If they pay their taxes, as I did when I had a green card, then they should have a right to elect their local leaders and if people have a problem with this, then they should move to another town or another country that has not been built by immigrants.”

Of the council’s 51 members, 36 have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, signaling their support and setting its successful passage through the council in stone.

Queens council members are split on the measure – eight have signed onto the bill as co-sponsors and six haven’t.

Of the six that haven’t signed on, two members, Republican Eric Ulrich and Democrat Robert Holden, who often joins in on Republican causes, have indicated that they will vote against the bill.

Holden, like other opponents of the bill, believe that it’s illegal. Mayor Bill de Blasio, though he has said he wouldn’t veto the bill, has also questioned the bill’s legality.

“[De Blasio and I] rarely see eye to eye, but that's how far-fetched this is,” Holden told the Eagle. “I think the City Council is wasting our time and I just think this is a party move from people who feel that they're going to benefit from more people voting.”

“I think the council's point is really that if you hold citizenship in another country, and you're here legally, there's nothing wrong with any of that, but I think citizenship and voting have always been tied together, and then saying that they really shouldn't be torn apart,” he added.

Councilmembers Karen Koslowitz, James Gennaro, Barry Grodenchik and Paul Vallone also did not sign on as co-sponsors but have not indicated which way they’ll vote when the bill hits the floor on Thursday, Dec. 9.

Koslowitz, Grodenchik and Vallone are all in the last month of their time in the City Council – all three will be termed out of office come Jan. 1.

None of the Queens council members who have not signed on as co-sponsors of the bill responded to requests for comment for this story.

Though she won’t take office until January, several weeks after the bill is voted on, Councilmember-elect Joann Ariola, who is soon to replace Ulrich in the legislative body, rallied against the bill with Republican council members last week.

“Our Constitution is clear, voting is a privilege given to citizens of the United States,” Ariola said in a statement to the Eagle. “What the far left driven Council is doing is nothing short of an attempt put their fingers on the scale and manipulate elections.”

“What they should be doing is pushing for immigration reform so that it is not as difficult to become a citizen,” Ariola added. “I will continue the practice of my predecessor, Eric Ulrich, and have an immigration attorney available in our district office to assist anyone who is seeking to become a citizen of our great country.”

In defense of the legality of the bill, Rodriguez pointed out that it has been approved by attorneys in the City Council.

“If we need to go to Albany, we go to Albany together,” Rodriguez said in November. “We also have right-wing opponents in the City of New York who always become an obstacle when we want to move the immigrants’ rights agenda in this city.”

Similar measures have also passed and been implemented in municipalities in Maryland and California.

Queens Councilmembers Peter Koo, Francisco Moya, Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer, I. Daneek Miller, Adrienne Adams and Selvena N. Brooks-Powers have shown their support for the bill by signing their name to it.

Among the arguments made in favor of passing the bill is that lawful permanent residents have established a life in New York City, contributing to city life through their work, education and taxes. However, despite their contributions, they have no say over the future of their city at the ballot box, proponents say.

“Immigrant New Yorkers deserve a voice in our democratic process, including the right to elect their local representatives,” Adams said in a statement to the Eagle. “I am supportive of this crucial bill, which will empower and enfranchise immigrant communities that have been historically marginalized. I look forward to seeing its passage.”

At a recent City Council hearing on the bill, Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, who represents a district that is home to nearly 50,000 non-citizen residents, explained the plight of many of her constituents.

“Most of us came to this country looking for a better future for our families – we pay taxes, we send our children to our schools, we open up businesses, we ride mass transit and use our hospitals, just like you and I,” Cruz said. “But unlike you and I, they don’t get to choose who represents them and their values. They don’t get to vote over who’s making decisions about the future of their children, the laws that govern their businesses, how mass transit is invested in, or even their health care.”

Despite already having a super-majority, the bill picked up one more co-sponsor last week – Councilmember Tiffany Caban, who was sworn in to office to fill the vacancy left by former Councilmember Costa Constantinides, said that signing on to the bill was one of her top priorities after taking her oath.

“This was certainly at the top of my list,” Caban told the Eagle. “If we're going to build a city that takes care of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, then we have to give them a really direct tool in their toolbox to literally have their voices heard and felt in the halls of power, otherwise it's not going to happen.”

“We are trying to build a New York that works for all of the people who live in the city and we're trying to make sure that every single person who lives here has access to dignified living, has the ability not just to survive, but to thrive, and that includes every single one of our immigrant neighbors,” Caban added. “This is Queens, the World’s Borough.”