OPINION:
When President Trump claims “voter fraud” in previous elections, what usually comes to my mind is non-U.S. citizens casting ballots. That is against the law. There have been a few such instances but no proof credible enough to change the outcome of an election.
Another kind of voter fraud has escaped the media’s attention, whether accidentally or deliberately. Peter Schweizer writes about it in his new book, “The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon.”
In a chapter titled “Voter Mills,” Mr. Schweizer notes that 1.2 million new citizens were sworn in during the 1996 election year, “three times the number processed by the [Immigration and Naturalization Service] the previous year.” Mr. Schweizer makes a strong and well-documented case that the Clinton administration (and later the Biden administration) violated immigration law by rushing through people from other countries to become citizens and then rapidly registering them to vote, mostly for Democrats.
Citing the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation of Citizenship USA, discovered by The Daily Caller, Mr. Schweizer writes that Rahm Emanuel, then an assistant to the president for political affairs, “took midnight trips to INS headquarters to meet with [Commissioner Daniel Meissner] to speed up the process of granting citizenship to foreigners.”
Mr. Schweizer writes, “As a vote generator, it worked: eighty-five percent of this population voted for Clinton-Gore.” He says the same strategy was used by the Biden administration and was a major reason President Biden refused to control the southern border during his four years in office.
The way to reverse this type of conduct and prevent it from happening in the future is to revoke the naturalized citizenship of those who circumvented the requirements for becoming U.S. citizens.
What does the law require of people who wish to become citizens of the United States and gain the right to vote? The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services describes it: “To qualify for U.S. naturalized citizenship, applicants must generally be at least 18, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) for 5 years (or 3 if married to a U.S. citizen), demonstrate good moral character, and possess basic English proficiency along with knowledge of U.S. history and government.”
If an immigrant violates the law, what are supposed to be the consequences? “A person is subject to revocation of naturalization if he or she procured naturalization illegally.”
Mr. Schweizer writes, “With pressure from the [Clinton] White House, the INS did not properly enforce the English language requirement of naturalization.” Many INS workers, he says, reported that they “regularly encountered applicants who presented passing certificates but who could not speak even simple English. They became U.S. citizens anyway.” And instant voters.
In view of this illegal strategy by Democrats, it could be argued that a major reason for demonstrations in Minneapolis against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is that the left wants to maintain its harvest of new Democratic voters for future election cycles.
President Trump, the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department should launch an investigation into those who violated the requirements for becoming American citizens. If it is proved that they violated the law, they should be stripped of their citizenship, along with their right to vote, their driver’s licenses and passports and deported to the countries from which they came.
Otherwise, the law is made a mockery, and those who have followed the law to become citizens will rightfully be angry about a system that treats law-abiders and lawbreakers the same.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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