On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced his new “election integrity” bill, which he claimed will prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections. He said, “We all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections but it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number.”
Note: Since 1996, it has been illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
Last week, Mike Johnson claimed undocumented immigrants are voting in national elections.
But the claim wasn’t based on evidence (he has none). It was based on vibes.
Then he said we need legislation to stop it (it’s already illegal).@AliVelshi caught my reaction. pic.twitter.com/lRr5D0r6nr
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) May 13, 2024
When U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), a University of Houston-trained lawyer, was shown Johnson’s announcement, MSNBC caught the congresswoman’s reaction. She burst out laughing and said: “I mean, this guy is a lawyer. This guy is a lawyer! Our whole job is to present evidence, and he’s saying ‘I have no evidence of it but in my gut I feel like it’s happening.’”
Eliza Sweren-Becker, senior counsel at the Voting Rights & Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, also criticized Johnson’s claims: “Well, the thing is, we actually do have the numbers, and we know that noncitizens don’t vote illegally in detectable numbers, let alone in large numbers.”
Crockett wasn’t the only member of Congress who had a laugh at Johnson’s solemn pledge to stop a criminalize an act that is already illegal. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), also a lawyer, took Johnson’s prompt as a invitation to issue his own sarcastic statement with a vow to stop third graders from voting in federal elections.
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Next week I’m introducing a bill to ban elementary school children from voting in federal elections. Because just like Trump, I want to talk about bills that duplicate existing law.#SaturdayVibes https://t.co/vaf64haty0
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 13, 2024