The so-called For the People Act, otherwise known as H.R. 1, was a brazen ploy by congressional Democrats to shift the electoral landscape in favor of the Democratic Party by way of federalizing our elections. Though liberals in Washington failed in that attempt to rig the system, they are renewing their efforts by attempting to force through amnesty for illegal immigrants as part of the federal budget. Stopping this is a matter of great urgency for the Republican Party.
Some budget bills are immune to a Senate filibuster, meaning that only a simple majority, not a supermajority, is needed to pass them. With Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote in the Senate and a majority in the House, congressional Democrats may have the political clout necessary to turn their budget into law, amnesty and all, if they can clear some complicated parliamentary hurdles.
If granted citizenship, illegal immigrants would also acquire the right to vote. Historical voting patterns indicate that new immigrants overwhelmingly identify with and support the Democratic Party. If even a fraction of the estimated 22 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States are offered a pathway to citizenship, and current voter preferences persist, these newly naturalized voters could provide Democrats with single-party control over the federal government for years to come.
Though recent trends have shown that demographics are not, in fact, destiny when it comes to elections, we cannot expect voter realignment to happen so rapidly as to negate the costs associated with amnesty at the ballot box. Former President Donald Trump’s 8% gain in 2020 among Hispanics, a group that comprises the bulk of people illegally residing within the U.S., while encouraging for Republicans, is impossible to extrapolate into future elections. Even if Republicans continue to make headway with Latino voters, amnesty would still be likely to result in a massive net increase to the Democratic voting bloc for the foreseeable future.
Democrats may dress up the issue of amnesty in compassionate clothing, attempting to “guilt” well-meaning centrists into supporting the cause, but at the end of the day, granting citizenship to illegal immigrants is nothing more than a power play for liberals, a means to an end. Does anyone honestly think Democrats would support amnesty if the majority of illegal immigrants supported Republicans?
The Democratic Party surely will exploit the electoral boon amnesty delivers to transform the civic fabric of this nation. Without a Republican presence in the federal government to stop them, liberals would be free to codify every aspect of progressivism into American law. Court-packing? You bet. Draconian restrictions on firearm rights? Practically guaranteed. The filibuster? Gone.
If you can think of a liberal goal, Democrats would do it if amnesty propelled them into absolute power.
At this point, the fate of conservatism lies with the Senate parliamentarian, the legislative officer responsible for ensuring rules are followed in the upper chamber. Including amnesty in the federal budget is a fairly clear violation of the Byrd rule — a rule designed to prevent provisions unrelated to budgetary concerns from being included during reconciliation.
Trump won in 2016 as a result of roughly 80,000 votes spread across three states. The largest raw popular vote margin in history, 1984’s contest between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, amounted to just under 17 million votes. While it is unclear precisely how many of our 22 million illegal immigrants would be eligible for naturalization under the Democratic proposal, it would nonetheless be enough to transform the electorate, dealing a killing blow to conservatism in the process.
