Mike Johnson’s Claims on Undocumented Migrants Voting

Representative Mike Johnson recently claimed that Democrats are pushing for undocumented migrants to have a say in U.S. elections. In fact, highly politicized and controversial debates—those that stand as representative of the greater partisan divide on immigration policy—have been insisted in his case: The integrity of the electoral system would be at stake, while illegal immigration would be incentivized. Some Republicans wrap those claims in a larger narrative that lenient immigration policies are part of a plot to tilt the political balance toward Democrats.

But there is not any credible evidence that Democrats are trying to vote undocumented migrants. On the contrary, all the current voting laws of the states across the United States require a person to at least be a citizen in order to vote in federal elections. While some cities and localities have considered, or debated, permitting non-citizens to vote in local elections, such arguments and actions neither include nor extend the issue of federal voting rights. This presents just one of the many labyrinthine and political issues involved in immigration policy and its perceived political repercussions.‍‍‍‍‍‍