Alien Donors: The Participation of Non-Citizens in the U.S. Campaign Finance System

In the closing weeks of the 1996 presidential race, press reports uncovered that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had received large contributions from a number of individuals in the United States who were not American citizens. The articles publicized a little-scrutinized but longstanding set of legal standards governing the participation of aliens in the campaign finance system. Among those rules is a prohibition on donations from foreign sources. Because some of the immigrants who gave to the Democrats retained connections to overseas business interests, their contributions looked suspicious-and a scandal was born. That controversy now threatens to push Congress in the direction of taking a constitutionally suspect policy and making it worse. Campaign finance controls have been described as providing "a formal, public opportunity for the people of a state through their lawmaking organs to decide whether foreign participation in their elections should be permitted or prohibited."' More than thirty years ago, Congress decided, for the first time, to take steps to limit this manifestation of overseas influence in the U.S. political scene. Federal law currently prohibits "foreign nationals" (defined to include foreign governments and corporations, as well as temporary visitors from abroad) from making contributions in connection with any campaign for elective office.' Rulemaking by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 1989 extended these statutory restrictions-which reach federal, state, and local elections but not ballot initiatives-to all expenditures as well.' However, immigrants admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence are exempt from these restraints and are thus free to fund U.S. political campaigns. The ability of these legal permanent residents (LPRs) to exercise candidate and party preferences provides them a significant entrde into the American political