Thursday, September 22, 2011

Illegal immigrants voting in Pasadena thwarted

Brian Charles, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/21/2011 07:57:06 PM PDT

PASADENA - A special task force this week abandoned a proposal that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to vote in Pasadena Unified School District elections.

The Charter Reform Task Force - a group formed by the PUSD, both the Pasadena and Sierra Madre city councils and Los Angeles County to draft new language governing school district elections - killed the proposal during its most recent meeting Tuesday.

Even so, the district needs to explore ways to engage immigrant families in school activities, PUSD board member Ramon Miramontes.

"I think that are valid points that are brought up. I think people are looking at large urban areas that are doing this," PUSD board member Ramon Miramontes said. "Being that members of the task force have brought this up, it merits some discussion. That's the democratic thing to do. I would like to deliberate on the pros and cons and the merits."

Giving parents, regardless of ctizenship status, more say in their child's school on school site councils or in leadership roles would be one way to meet that goal, Miramontes added.

The idea to allow undocumented immigrants to vote was forwarded in recent weeks by multiple members of the task force intent on placing more power in the hands of parents regardless of immigration status, according to district officials.

Ultimately the plan fell short.

"(Tuesday night) we finalized the charter language ... that says a person electing
someone to the Board of Education must be a resident and qualified voter of the sub-district where the board member is running," said Ken Chawkins, Charter Reform Task Force chairman.

Pasadena's flirtation with undocumented immigrant voting would not put the city on the cutting edge in progressive voting policy, according to Niels Frenzen , clinical professor of law at USC and an immigration expert.

The practice is in effect in multiple jurisdictions across the country, he said.

Chicago allows the undocumented to vote in school elections, as did New York City prior to Mayor Michael Bloomberg seizing control of the nation's largest public school system in 2002.

However, a plan to allow undocumented immigrants to vote in San Francisco was rejected by voters in 2010.

One proponent of voting for undocumented immigrants asserted that a person's citizenship status should not preclude them from having a voice in school district governance.

"Local non-citizen voting is a delicate issue that touches many emotional and patriotic nerves," said German Barrero, a politically active PUSD parent. "On the one hand, non citizens can be sacrificed at the front lines of the wars for this country, but can't choose their representative on the school board."

"At the end of the debate, any reasonable mind would acknowledge the benefits of allowing the people being served locally to have a stronger, at least equal voice, to those serving them," Barrero added.

The Charter Reform Task Force was formed in response to legal threats against the PUSD to either change its election format - thus altering the Pasadena City Charter - from at-large elections to geographic voting district or risk being sued.

Altering the voting methods for the PUSD board require approval by registered voters at the ballot box in the spring of 2012.

PUSD board members worried that such a controversial move as allowing illegal aliens to vote would derail efforts to change the charter.

"If we tried to introduce (voting by undocumented residents) as a new idea now, it would be very controversial and could lead to the defeat of this measure," said Kim Kenne, PUSD board member.

PUSD board President Renatta Cooper questioned how elections, where undocumented aliens are eligible to vote, would function.

"There are a myriad of practical situations that get in the way," Cooper said. "I don't see how you do it, without getting into immigration status."

Cooper questioned whether voting officials could establish who was an eligible voter among a population with little or no documentation.

"How would you prove someone is a parent?" she asked.

More than 55 percent of PUSD students are Latino, 3 percent are Asian, 1.7 percent are Filipino, 16.5 percent of its students are white and more than 21 percent are black. PUSD does check residence of its students, but not immigration status of its student or their parents.

As Barrero and others look to shift political power to parents, the debate over immigration muddles the conversation, Frenzen said.

People worry more about verifying who can vote rather than whether participation of those immigrants better serves them and the governing body, Frenzen said.

He questioned the claim that school districts can't effectively identify qualified voters (parents) among the undocumented.

"When a child is enrolled in school they are required to identify a parent or guardian. The school district already has a mechanism in place," Frenzen said. "It seems to me a fairly simple system to replicate for school board elections."

And while many opponents to voting by undocumented immigrants make the argument that the undocumented don't pay taxes therefore are not entitled to representation, Frenzen said no one manages to avoid paying some share of taxes.

"Renters are paying property taxes through their landlords," Frenzen said. "All of these people who are irregular migrants are paying into the tax base."

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