I Want YOU to Vote ... and Be Deported

I'm often surprised by the level of trust that immigrants to this country have in a government that will deport them at the drop of a hat.  I urge them not to rely on the government for accurate information about what the immigration laws mean or how they will be applied in a specific case.  Don't call the USCIS 1-800 number hoping for insight into how to proceed in a complicated immigration matter.  Don't count on the worker at an InfoPass appointment to be able to explain every facet of a case, when you can't afford to overlook any detail.  Government workers face few consequences for handing out faulty advice, and the laws can be difficult for even immigration judges to understand, much less non-attorney clerks or contract call center workers reading a script from a computer.

And most importantly, don't believe that a government official who doesn't work in the immigration bureaucracy will help you safeguard your immigration status.  If you're an F-1 student or a green card holder, don't trust the judge, the prosecutor, and especially not your public defender when all three of them assure you that pleading guilty to a minor charge like retail theft or possession of marijuana won't affect your life in any meaningful way.

And don't believe the county elections clerk when he tells you it's ok to register to vote as a permanent resident.

One of the unseen casualties of the effort in recent years to increase voter registration in underserved communities is the deportation of permanent residents who were misinformed by the clerk at the DMV, the voter outreach worker on the streetcorner, or the local elections official who assured them that they could lawfully register to vote as green card holders.  I'm certainly not against registering more people to vote.  But it's a cruel trick when you combine the harsh penalties for registering or voting as an LPR with workers who are unaware of those penalties and view any new registration as a good thing.  Some states make voter registration a routine part of renewing a driver's license or otherwise streamline the process without the necessary safeguards to prevent unauthorized registration.  Adding obstacles to registration will screen out lots of potential voters, but the current situation of streamlined registration followed by draconian penalties for unauthorized registrants is unworkable.  It leads to too many sad anecdotes from would-be citizens.

We must educate the educators--the people who provide information about voter registration to the public.  People who register others to vote have to know the laws.  The first step for policymakers and advocacy groups is to concede that unauthorized registration is a problem that needs to be addressed.  The second is to consider ways to keep voter registration simple and accessible while screening out non-citizens.  Finally, Congress should ease the penalties for unauthorized registration or voting except in clear cases of voter fraud.

If you're an immigrant, try to realize that no matter how good your intentions, the host government does not view protecting your interests as a priority.  There's nothing like an up-close look at immigration policy to produce a robust skepticism about intentions and abilities of government.  A few more years in this profession and I'll be a card-carrying libertarian!