80 F
Mobile
81.6 F
Huntsville
83.3 F
Birmingham
62.9 F
Montgomery

Brooks, Byrne, Aderholt urge Sessions to safeguard elections from voting by foreigners

Per a Tuesday press release by the office of Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-5), he, Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-1) and Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-4) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions urging him to devote more resources to protect American election integrity from foreigners who interfere in American elections by illegally voting in them.

The three Alabama representatives were joined by 20 other members of Congress in signing the letter.

Brooks said, “Every single illegal vote by a foreigner in American elections dilutes and cancels the votes of American citizens and rightful voters! All Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, should agree that foreigners should not be influencing U.S. elections.”

“Unfortunately, too many partisans single out Russian involvement in America’s 2016 election (even though there is no evidence the Russians successfully tricked a single voter into casting a bad vote) while turning a blind eye to the greatest provable foreign influence on American elections: illegal foreigner voting,” Brooks continued.

The letter specifically pointed to concerns about sanctuary cities possibly being “ripe for widespread participation by noncitizens in our elections.”

“Foreigners illegally voting in and influencing American elections threatens our Republic,” Brooks remarked. “According to research by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, 3,120 foreigners were registered to vote and/or removed between 2006 and 2018 in just 13 sanctuary jurisdictions (out of thousands of voting jurisdictions in America).”

He added, “My colleagues and I strongly urge Attorney General Sessions to devote the necessary resources to investigate and prosecute voting fraud by foreigners. After all, we are the United States, not the United Nations.”

The congressman from North Alabama drilled down on the potential ills of sanctuary cities, with Birmingham’s status as a “welcoming city” – which Mayor Randall Woodfin called “beyond” a sanctuary city – coming to mind.

“So-called ‘sanctuary cities’ aggravate illegal foreign influence in American elections,” Brooks outlined. “By shielding illegal aliens, sanctuary cities encourage widespread foreigner voting fraud. Making matters worse, sanctuary cities recklessly encourage noncitizen voting by registering them to vote through public assistance agency transactions (a/k/a Motor Voter), registration/ petition drives and registration assistors. The Justice Department should focus investigative resources on these jurisdictions to stop voter fraud.”

Brooks concluded, “One Justice Department prosecutor has already done a fantastic job addressing this important issue. Robert J. Higdon, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announced indictments against 19 foreign nationals for illegally voting in the November 2016 elections. Mr. Higdon’s work is exactly what other Justice Department prosecutors should replicate across the nation— maintaining the Rule of Law demands it, maintaining our Republican requires it.”

Recently, all Republican members of Alabama’s House delegation voted against illegal immigrants voting in American elections, which is currently happening in narrow circumstances in San Francisco and 12 other Democrat-led cities.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

Don’t miss out!  Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.