Michigan House Votes on Legislation that Erodes Our Democracy and Puts Our Communities at Risk

DETROIT - Today, the Michigan House of Representatives has again taken steps to undermine our rights.

Instead of working to expand and protect the rights of all Michiganders, the Michigan House of Representatives has voted on two harmful pieces of legislation that erode our democracy and put our communities at risk.

This coordinated legislative attack is a clear attempt to disenfranchise voters and scapegoat immigrant communities. These proposals aim to divide Michiganders by vilifying marginalized groups and putting up bureaucratic walls that block people from accessing the ballot box and basic public services.

House Joint Resolution B (HJR-B) is a regressive and unnecessary proposal that threatens the fundamental right to vote and undermines voter protections enshrined in Michigan’s Constitution. HJR-B would impose sweeping new restrictions on voter registration and ballot access under the guise of election integrity, despite zero evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in Michigan.

HJR-B would create significant barriers for countless eligible voters–particularly women, seniors, low-income residents, students, naturalized citizens, and communities of color.

Dangerous policies like HJR-B do nothing to enhance election security but instead create barriers that prevent eligible voters from participating in our democracy. HJR-B also undermines the will of Michigan voters who overwhelmingly voted to expand voter protections in the state constitution in ballot proposals in 2018 and 2022.

Unfortunately, the attack on voting rights is not happening in isolation. The Michigan House of Representatives has also advanced a package of anti-immigrant bills—House Bills 4338 through 4342— that threaten the safety, dignity, and rights of Michigan’s immigrant communities.

• HB 4338 and 4339 would coerce local and county governments to act as extensions of federal immigration enforcement by forcing them to coordinate with federal immigration officials—undermining community trust, public safety, and established norms of local control.
• HB 4340 and 4341 would strip access to crucial public services, grants, and housing assistance from individuals deemed “non-qualified aliens,” effectively targeting and dehumanizing members of our communities based on immigration status.
• HB 4342 would go even further by weaponizing state funding in a forced compliance with these punitive bills by threatening to withhold funds from local governments that do not comply with this harmful agenda.

HJR-B and the HB 4338-4342 package do nothing to increase security, but instead stoke fear, suppress voting participation, and entrench discrimination.

Unfortunately, these coordinated efforts to undermine our civil liberties are not new. While our elected representatives should be spending their time protecting all of our rights, some of our legislators are promoting a harmful and hateful agenda that harms our voting rights and our immigrant communities, which hurts all Michiganders. Rather than creating unnecessary obstacles to voting and antagonizing our immigrant communities, our elected leaders should be working to protect and expand the rights of all Michiganders. A violation of one group’s rights is a violation of all of our rights.

The ACLU of Michigan unequivocally opposes these harmful legislative attacks. We strongly urge the Senate to reject House Bills 4338-4342.