For nearly a decade, Democratic leaders have warned that foreign interference threatens American elections. Now their own party’s use of noncitizens in political operations, along with fights to expand noncitizen voting and census-driven apportionment, is drawing scrutiny from critics who say the rhetoric hasn’t matched the practice.
In 2021, Rep. Adam Schiff said “both parties must speak with one voice to disavow all interference in our elections. We must guard against and seek to deter all attempts at foreign interference, and ensure that American voters decide American elections.” In 2020, then-vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris said she worried foreign interference could cost her and Joe Biden the election.
A recent New Yorker profile examined Daysi González, described as a political consultant who works on campaigns to elect Democrats across the country. According to the piece, González has helped elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ruben Gallego while also consulting for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. González has been living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, which was set to expire Wednesday.
The New Yorker reported that González’s mentor and boss, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, “has been trying to pull all the strings he can to help her stay in the U.S.” Though those efforts to keep her in the country have not succeeded, Rocha reportedly offered to keep her on as a remote worker, meaning she could continue consulting on American campaigns from El Salvador after her legal status here lapses.
A Pattern Beyond One Consultant
González’s case is not isolated. Democrats in New York fought — and ultimately lost — an effort to let roughly 800,000 noncitizen residents of New York City vote in local elections.
In Virginia, a Democrat-appointed judge ordered the state to restore roughly 1,500 self-identified noncitizens to the voter rolls in the weeks before the 2024 presidential election, despite the fact that noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal.
Beyond direct voting, noncitizens are counted in the U.S. Census, and those numbers determine congressional apportionment and each state’s share of electoral votes. Critics argue this gives Democratic-leaning states an added incentive to welcome large numbers of migrants and noncitizens, regardless of their immigration status.
Taken together, the census count, the fights over noncitizen voting rights in New York and Virginia, and the employment of a noncitizen political consultant present a pattern that stands in tension with years of public statements from Democratic leaders warning Americans that foreign interference in elections is a grave threat to democracy.
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