The same bill backs equity curricula and removes a deportation ground for noncitizens who vote illegally.
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“Universal mail-in voting”
That is what American taxpayers would help finance under Democrats’ legislation to abolish the Department of Homeland Security.
Rep. Delia Ramirez’s Reimagining Safety Act would dismantle DHS and give its proposed replacement a new assignment: distributing federal grants for mail-in voting, equity-focused civics curricula and community civic-engagement programs.
Twenty pages earlier, the same bill would erase the specific deportation ground for noncitizens who vote unlawfully.
The proposal pairs federal support for universal mail voting with the removal of an immigration consequence for illegal voting. Both are tucked into legislation publicly promoted as a plan to reimagine community safety.
Official bill excerpt: Inclusive Democracy Grant Program, recipients and universal mail-in voting.
H.R. 10803, printed page 67, section 402(d). The proposed grants explicitly cover universal mail-in voting. Cropped from the official Government Publishing Office PDF; wording is unaltered. Read the original page.
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A new bureaucracy to subsidize mail voting
Ramirez introduced H.R. 10803 on October 13 with original Democratic cosponsors Rashida Tlaib, Adelita Grijalva and Jim McGovern.
Their public pitch is to abolish ICE and Customs and Border Protection, dismantle DHS and redirect resources into communities. The proposal would preserve FEMA, CISA, TSA and customs functions under a reorganized federal structure.
But section 402(d) goes beyond immigration policy. It would create an Inclusive Democracy Grant Program inside the new Department of Community Safety.
The secretary would be directed to distribute grants to states, Washington, D.C., territories, tribes and local governments. Eligible activities explicitly include universal mail-in voting, expanded early voting without an excuse requirement, and language-accessible ballot processing.
The provision would also let those governments obtain federal support for K–12 and adult civics curricula covering constitutional rights, systemic equity and participatory democracy. Independent, community-led civic-engagement programs are another eligible use.
Official continuation naming systemic equity, participatory democracy and community-led civic engagement.
H.R. 10803, printed page 68, continuation of section 402(d). The curriculum and civic-engagement provisions complete the grant program’s three eligible purposes. Cropped excerpt; wording is unaltered. Read the original page.
In other words, the Cabinet department replacing DHS would help finance election administration and classroom instruction on equity.
Ramirez’s public summary describes the voting grants in broad terms. It leaves out the bill’s explicit universal-mail-voting example and its systemic-equity language.
Removing a consequence for illegal voting
The election provisions extend beyond spending.
On page 47, section 302(b)(10) would repeal two paragraphs of the Immigration and Nationality Act: the public-charge deportation ground and the separate ground for unlawful voting.
The latter provision currently makes a noncitizen deportable for voting in violation of federal, state or local law, with a specified exception for certain people who reasonably believed they were citizens.
Official bill paragraph repealing INA section 237(a)(5) and (6).
H.R. 10803, printed page 47, section 302(b)(10). The cross-reference repeals the public-charge and unlawful-voter paragraphs of INA section 237(a). Cropped excerpt; wording is unaltered. Read the original page.
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Ramirez’s proposal would remove that basis for deportation. The separate federal criminal ban on noncitizen voting would remain.
That is a consequential choice about citizenship and enforcement: the bill would eliminate an immigration penalty attached specifically to unlawful participation in American elections.
The priorities are written. The price tag isn’t.
The coalition backing the legislation includes Free Speech For People, Mijente, Indivisible Chicago Alliance, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and CAIR-Chicago.
The bill’s spending priorities reach well beyond mail ballots. Section 402(a)–(b) would cancel DHS’s remaining unobligated immigration-enforcement funding and authorize its reappropriation for eight categories of programs, including universal health care, housing, education and climate initiatives.
Its instruction to provide grants would still need funding through appropriations. The nearby $250 million annual authorization is for a separate violence-prevention program.
As introduced, this is a proposal for spending and legal changes, not money already awarded. Its political priorities are nevertheless clear: dismantle DHS, repeal an unlawful-voting deportation ground and establish federal subsidies for mail voting and equity curricula.
Natalie Winters
