Fixation on immigrants does real damage
By <WaPo> Editorial Board
February 4
... Last summer, as one of the most spectacular instances of alleged ballot tampering in recent memory unfolded right under his nose, Robert Higdon Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, focused his investigative zeal on a handful of immigrants who had improperly voted, in many cases out of confusion or due to the incompetence of others ...
... According to a 2017 audit of the previous year’s race, nearly all the improper votes cast in North Carolina came from felons, not noncitizens. Out of 4.5 million votes in 2016, only 41 were cast by noncitizens. Mr. Higdon’s office declined to provide any explanation ...
The stories behind many of those noncitizen votes make Mr. Higdon’s decisions even less comprehensible. Of the 20 noncitizen voters he bravely rounded up, all but one were legal permanent residents. One was registered to vote in person after handing over her documents for inspection. Another had a registration form submitted for him without his knowledge, and when he got a registration card in the mail, he thought he was legally registered. Another had already passed the citizenship test but was not allowed to take the oath on the same day because the room was too full. It was reasonable enough for him to imagine he was eligible to vote. It was unreasonable for a prosecutor to haul him into court. Though the fines he and others received were minimal, they still had to consult lawyers and spend time dealing with their prosecutions. Meanwhile, the government had to send officers to round them up ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-fixation-on-immigrants-does-real-damage-north-carolina-is-proof/2019/02/04/c33d3a08-28b8-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html?utm_term=.a962cd520563
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