Worcester rejects a petition that may have required immigrants running for office to present their papers

Local News

A petition requiring candidates for office in Worcester to supply naturalization papers as proof of citizenship was met with strong opposition at a Worcester City Council meeting Tuesday night.

“This was strategically placed right before an election,” Worcester Mayor and City Councilor Joseph Petty said on the meeting. “It could have been placed a year ago. It could have been several months ahead. It seems to have been planted tonight, so we can all talk about it.”

He continued: “Unfortunately sometimes people believe this rhetoric, but I won't allow it.”

Worcester City Council voted unanimously to table the petition, stopping it from moving forward.

The Law already states that to run for office you need to be a registered voter, which requires citizenship. However, that’s petition The motion, submitted by the Worcester Republican City Committee, requested additional documentation.

The petition states that candidates who weren’t born within the United States but have turn out to be naturalized American residents must “present under oath to the city clerk naturalization papers or other legal documents as proof of citizenship” before they might be approved to run for office .

In its submitted justification, the committee stated: “Citizens of other countries should not impose tax, zoning, housing, infrastructure and education policies on American citizens.”

The committee also explained that the petition was submitted to acquire “FREE” press and promoting for the group.

“As you know, we live in a country based on the rule of law,” Mary Ann Carroll, chair of the Worcester City Republican Committee, said on the meeting. “I am here tonight to ask for your help in ensuring that the laws of our country, our state and our city are followed regarding candidates for election in the City of Worcester.”

Carroll added, “This is not a cumbersome additional step” to require naturalized residents to supply additional documents to prove their citizenship. “It only excludes people who are excluded by law.”

Carroll was within the minority when he spoke in favor of the petition. In the nearly two-hour public speech in the course of the meeting, only three out of 54 people spoke in favor of it.

Most said the petition was stuffed with bigotry, xenophobia and scaremongering.

“This is a trick,” said Fred Taylor, president of the local NAACP chapter, during a virtual call to the meeting. “A ploy to sow division, a ploy to incite hatred, a ploy to deter future candidates. “Hate has no place in the city of Worcester.”

Two city councilors are naturalized residents: District 5 member Etel Haxhiaj from Albania and member Thu Nguyen from Vietnam.

Haxhiaj said she was targeted online by individuals who demanded she hand over her naturalization papers and photos of her obtaining American citizenship.

“I am here to stay and I have nothing to prove to those of you who want to divide us,” Haxhiaj said on the meeting.

She continued: “Extremist ideas will not go unchallenged. It’s time for you to retire them and throw them in the trash where they belong.”