LA City Council Socialists Launch Bid to Give Noncitizens Full Voting Rights in Local Elections

Los Angeles City Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martínez (CD 13) and Ysabel Jurado (CD 14) have introduced a proposal that would ask voters to greenlight noncitizen voting in city elections — including races for mayor, City Council seats, and Los Angeles Board of Education positions. The measure, released Wednesday, would first require the full council to place it on the November 3, 2026 ballot. If approved by voters, the council would then need to pass an ordinance amending city election law to allow it. 

Soto-Martínez, whose parents were once undocumented immigrants from Mexico, framed the effort as empowering long-time residents who “worked hard, paid taxes, and raised their kids in our public schools” but lacked a voice until naturalizing. “After my parents immigrated here from Mexico, they worked hard, paid taxes, and raised their kids in our public schools, but for decades they had no say in the decisions shaping their community until they became citizens,” he stated. 

Jurado, a tenants’ rights attorney and daughter of undocumented Filipino immigrants, co-signed the proposal. Both are aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) bloc on the council, which includes members like Eunisses Hernandez and Nithya Raman — a faction that has repeatedly pushed expansive immigrant protections amid federal enforcement actions under the Trump administration. Raman, dubbed “the next Mamdani,” is running for Los Angeles mayor with Polymarket indicating she has a 60 percent chance of winning the election.

JUST IN: Democratic Socialist Nithya Raman, dubbed "the next Mamdani," is now projected to win the LA mayoral election.

60% chance she leads the City of Angels. pic.twitter.com/28tU0saLuH

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 30, 2026

Supporters, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), argue the change addresses “taxation without representation.” CHIRLA head Angelica Salas said green card holders, DACA recipients, and other noncitizens pay taxes, send children to public schools, and live under the same local policies — so they deserve input on who represents them. 

Critics see it as the latest step in a coordinated effort to erode the fundamental distinction between citizens and noncitizens. Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) called it an assault on citizenship itself. “It undermines the whole concept of citizenship, and what it means to be a member of American society,” Mehlman said. “That is a privilege and a right that is reserved for citizens.” 

Soto-Martínez’s own challenger in the June 2 primary, Dylan Kendall, warned the plan could backfire by creating a public government list of noncitizen voters — potentially exposing undocumented residents to greater scrutiny from federal immigration authorities. 

This isn’t the first time California localities have tried to extend voting rights to noncitizens. California Globe readers will recall that Santa Ana voters soundly rejected a similar ballot measure in November 2024 by a decisive 62% to 38% margin, with opponents arguing that “voting is a precious right that citizens will not so easily give up or dilute.”  San Francisco’s 2016 charter amendment allowing noncitizens to vote in school board elections was later struck down by a judge, who ruled it diluted the voting rights of citizens. Oakland voters approved a comparable measure in 2022, but it has yet to be implemented. 

The California Globe has long documented the risks of noncitizen participation in elections and the broader push to weaken voter integrity safeguards. In June 2025, the Trump DOJ sued Orange County’s Registrar of Voters for refusing to turn over unredacted records of noncitizens removed from the rolls — a clear violation of federal law requiring accurate voter lists. Voting by noncitizens remains a federal crime, yet some jurisdictions have resisted transparency. 

Los Angeles already operates as a sanctuary city with robust protections for immigrants, including recent council motions shielding residents from federal ICE actions. Soto-Martínez and Jurado have been vocal proponents of those policies. Yet critics argue this latest proposal goes further: it seeks to import noncitizen political power into the very elections that determine local governance, taxes, policing, housing, and schools.

With roughly 1.1 million unauthorized immigrants estimated in Los Angeles County alone — and broader noncitizen figures in the metro area exceeding two million — the scale is enormous. Proponents claim noncitizens already “have skin in the game.” Opponents counter that citizenship is the game: it requires allegiance, naturalization, and acceptance of the responsibilities that come with the franchise.

The proposal now heads to the council’s Rules Committee. Whether it advances to the ballot — and whether Angelenos reject it as Santa Ana did — will test whether voters still believe American elections should be decided by American citizens.