Los Angeles voters this year may be asked to take the first step toward giving non-citizens the right to vote in city and school board elections.
City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez, who represents an Echo Park-to-Hollywood district, issued a proposal Wednesday asking voters in the Nov. 3 election to give the council the power to vote out noncitizens in city elections, including for mayor and City Council as well as seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education.
The proposal faces several hurdles that could derail it. The council would have to vote to place the measure on the ballot and then, voters would have to approve it. After that, the council would still need to pass an ordinance amending the city elections law.
Soto-Martinez, whose parents were once undocumented, said her proposal would help L.A.’s immigrant communities at a time when they face attack from the Trump administration, which has launched nationwide immigration raids and sought to revoke birthright citizenship.
“My parents immigrated here from Mexico, worked hard, paid taxes and put their children through our public schools, but they had no role in the decisions that shaped their community for decades until they became citizens,” Soto-Martinez said.
The motion, which was also signed by Council Member Isabel Jurado, will now go to the council’s Rules Committee for consideration.
Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said his organization would fight such a proposal, arguing that it “undermines the entire concept of citizenship, and what it means to be a member of American society.”
Mehlman, whose group favors stronger enforcement of federal immigration laws, said L.A. should not allow people to “just show up from the outside and have an equal voice in how the city is run.”
“It is a privilege and a right that is reserved for citizens,” he said.
Dylan Kendall, who is running against Soto-Martinez, also criticized the proposal, but for different reasons. He said he feared it would lead to “a new government list of noncitizen voters at the same time Trump’s ICE brigade is looking for more ways to track, target, and abduct undocumented people.”
“What he’s proposing now seems less like protecting our community and more like asking people to sign a public list that puts undocumented neighbors in greater danger,” she said.
Federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections. However, states are allowed to set their own local and statewide election rules.
secured by non-citizens right to vote In school board races in San Francisco. Oakland voters approved a similar measure in 2022 but it has not yet been implemented Ballotpedia.
Meanwhile, Santa Ana voters rejected a proposal to let non-citizens vote in that city’s local races in 2024.
Angelica Salas, who heads the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said her group supports the proposal, adding that too many Angelenos — green card holders, DACA recipients and others — are facing “taxation without representation.”
“They are taxed in the same way. They send their children to schools. They have to deal with the consequences of the decisions of their representatives,” he said. “So they should have the right to say who represents them.”
Soto-Martinez, who is running for a second term in the June 2 election, is not the only candidate supporting the idea.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy, who is seeking to oust City Atty. Heidi Feldstein Soto told the Democratic Socialists of America last year that she supports an effort to let non-citizens vote in L.A. local elections.
“While the City Council or County Board of Supervisors would need to pass this legislation, as City Attorney, I will ensure that immigrants voting in local elections receive protections from the federal government,” she wrote on her DSA candidate questionnaire, a copy of which was reviewed by The Times.
The idea also has the support of Council Member Eunice Hernandez, who is seeking re-election on the Eastside.
In the race to replace Council Member Curran Price in South L.A., at least three candidates — community organizer Eduardo Mazariegos, council aide Jose Ugarte and education nonprofit director Elmer Roldan — support the idea.
