‘No taxation without representation’ — Noncitizens rally for NYC voting rights
More than 100 immigrants and their advocates gathered outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon to support new legislation that would extend municipal voting rights to green card holders and noncitizens with work authorization in the United States.
Attendees held signs that read “One city, one vote” in English, Spanish and Bengali, and chanted, “No taxation without representation” as activists and local lawmakers described how noncitizens have been excluded from government.
“I can tell you what’s un-American,” sponsor Ydanis Rodriguez of Upper Manhattan told the crowd. “Denying people who pay their taxes the right to choose their representative that will determine where their money is allocated; what schools and parks and senior centers will receive funding. It is un-American to leave them out of that process.”