Thread: Unable to vote, noncitizen immigrants volunteer

Unable to vote, noncitizen immigrants volunteer
By JULIANA BARBASSA – 2 hours ago

From Florida to California, they're working hard on the upcoming election — knocking on doors in ethnic neighborhoods, manning the phones in myriad languages and distributing political flyers. But come Tuesday, they won't vote. They can't: They're not citizens.

The excitement that has made American voter registration numbers soar has trickled deep into the country's immigrant population. But almost two-thirds of the 37.5 million foreign-born people in the United States have not taken the oath of allegiance, and are shut out from casting a ballot.

Non-citizen immigrants, legal or not, are putting their time and their effort where their vote would be.

"There are a lot of people who want to be voters one day, but it can take a lot of time," said Kishan Putta, national director of Indians for McCain. "They do want to get involved. They're calling, wanting to participate."

There have been no efforts to monitor how many volunteers in union halls, ethnic organizations, campaign offices are not citizens. But leaders of immigration advocacy organizations say this population is stepping up.

"There are millions out there who have not yet become citizens, who need somewhere to plug in, to become part of the process that gets those who can out to vote," said Efrain Escobedo, director of voter engagement for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, which has used non-citizens to turn out new voters in states where Hispanics could have a big say in the presidential contest.

There are approximately 12.1 million legal permanent residents and 11.8 illegal immigrants in the country. The concerns that are driving some of them to do election work are largely the same ones energizing Americans — the sagging economy, fear of unemployment, worries about health care and the quality of schools.

"These are things that keep you up at night," said Hernan Cortez, 30, a Salvadoran who has been knocking on doors to get out the vote in Aurora, Colo.

Cortez has two children, a wife who works nights at a hospital, and mortgage payments that ballooned from $1000 a month to $1,300 in January. He is not a citizen — the nearly $1,400 in fees that he would have to pay for himself and his wife put naturalization beyond his means.

"I wish I could go out to vote," he said. "Instead I talk to people about how this election is going to affect our community."

Since much of their energy is focused on other recent immigrants — a fast-growing population that has added hundreds of thousands of new voters in swing states — non-citizens are in a position to make a difference, experts say.

When McCain supporter Ai Thien Le, 57, takes her seat at a Virginia phonebank to encourage other Vietnamese immigrants to cast a ballot, she knows every call can help tip the numbers in this battleground state. "It's the only way our voices can be heard and our issues addressed," said Le, who has been living in the United States since 2004 — not long enough to qualify for citizenship.

Foreign nationals who are not legal permanent residents are forbidden from making contributions, but there are no laws against non-citizens volunteering in political campaigns, said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. And the campaigns welcome the help.

"We don't ask if volunteers are citizens or not," said Hessy Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign. "Our door is open to everyone who wants to be part of the work."

The non-citizens' desires to influence the outcome of the election draws little opposition from advocates of immigration control, as long as they do not vote.

"It is teaching them about democracy without giving them rights that should be exclusive to citizens," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tighter immigration control.

But some say that immigrants who entered the country illegally should be kept out of the political process. "They start out with a lack of legitimacy," said Stanley Renshon, a fellow at the center and a political scientist at the City University of New York's Graduate Center.

Non-citizen volunteers make powerful advocates because they identify with the voters on their rosters.

Candida Garcia, a Nicaraguan immigrant and legal permanent resident who cleans hallways at the University of Miami, has been putting her rapid-fire Spanish to work for Sen. Barack Obama, knocking on doors to get out the Latino vote in Miami.

Her husband's hours at a kitchen cabinet factory have been slashed, and her 13-year-old daughter, born in the U.S., has no health insurance. "We need a radical change in this country," she said.

Many hope their work will counteract the lack of participation that has undercut their community's electoral clout.

Ana Herrera goes door to door in the farmworker community of Avenal, Calif., where she is applying for residency. "People say, 'Why?' They say, 'What difference will it make?' They say, 'I have no time,'" said Herrera, walking past whole blocks where there are no registered voters.

"I tell them, if we don't help make the decisions, we're going to always be living with decisions made by others," she said.

http://ap.google.com

"I tell them, if we don't help make the decisions, we're going to always be living with decisions made by others," she said.

I TELL YOU WHAT!!! THE CONSTITUTION WILL BE TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO UNTIL YOU EARN YOUR CITIZENSHIP THE RIGHT WAY!!!!!!!!!

Her husband's hours at a kitchen cabinet factory have been slashed, and her 13-year-old daughter, born in the U.S., has no health insurance. "We need a radical change in this country," she said.

Welcome to America! How many US citizens have seen their hours slashed, and how many children born to US citizens have no insurance?
Quit whining lady, go home and fix your own country.

Ana Herrera goes door to door in the farmworker community of Avenal, Calif., where she is applying for residency. "People say, 'Why?' They say, 'What difference will it make?' They say, 'I have no time,'" said Herrera, walking past whole blocks where there are no registered voters.

"I tell them, if we don't help make the decisions, we're going to always be living with decisions made by others," she said.

Are you checking to make sure they are US CITIZENS or just signing up illegals too?

I do not want illegal invaders anywhere near our political process! They have already demonstrated a lack of respect for this nations laws, which should prevent them from working anywhere near a campaign

. But almost two-thirds of the 37.5 million foreign-born people in the United States have not taken the oath of allegiance, and are shut out from casting a ballot.

CAN ANYONE COMPREHEND THE CONSEQUENCES OF 37.5 MILLION FOREIGN-BORN ILLEGAL ALIENS BECOMING CITIZENS BY WAY OF AMNESTY?

THIS WILL HAPPEN IF OBAMA GETS ELECTED. IT WONT BE "CHANGE", IT WILL BE DISASTER.