GEORGIA: Leftist GOTV Groups Ambushing Naturalized Citizens May Be Breaking the Law

Left-wing nonprofits are resorting to predatory tactics to bypass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ban on nongovernmental organizations conducting voter registration at naturalization ceremonies. 

Last month, Restoration News reported on the League of Women Voters’ (LWV) flagrant violation of federal guidelines by registering new citizens, in Ulster County, New York. 

Meanwhile, another liberal group was doing the same thing in Georgia, ambushing newly naturalized citizens with flyers on USCIS property. The flyers directed them to adjacent offices for voter registration, where the group photocopied personal documents, potentially violating federal law.

Veronica, a participant in the Restoration of America Foundation’s (ROAF) citizenship training program, experienced this firsthand after her naturalization ceremony last month. 

As she exited the USCIS Field Office in Northlake, a suburb northeast of Atlanta, a person standing on government property handed her the flyer from "New Americans Workgroup," which read: 

"Register to vote. After your naturalization ceremony, come next door. We can register you to vote in person! Language assistance available.” 

The flyer further instructed her to "bring proof of citizenship and ID," setting the stage for invasive and possibly unlawful data collection.

Naturalization ceremonies are supposed to be civic celebrations free of ideological influence. USCIS's new policy restricting voter registration at naturalization ceremonies to state and local officials aims to prevent partisan exploitation by politically aligned nonprofits.

Unable to operate inside USCIS facilities, New Americans Workgroup, set up shop next door, using official-looking materials to lure new citizens. 

Veronica complied with the request, understandably thinking that because the individual was standing on USCIS property, the person worked for the government. When she handed over her driver's license and naturalization certificate, the group photocopied both.

Photocopying her driver's license is less serious. Copying her Certificate of Naturalization, however, raises serious legal concerns under 18 U.S.C. § 1426, which prohibits unauthorized reproduction of naturalization documents.

The statute is clear. Only those with "lawful authority" may reproduce naturalization certificates. This is also stated plainly on the certificate itself, which reads in all caps: "IT IS PUNISHABLE BY U.S. LAW TO COPY, PRINT, OR PHOTOGRAPH THIS CERTIFICATE, WITHOUT LAWFUL AUTHORITY."

It is generally accepted that "lawful authority" includes making copies for one's own records or as evidence of citizenship to gain a passport or employment.

The National Voter Registration Act only requires an attestation of citizenship under penalty of perjury and proof of residence to register to vote. The Help America Vote Act requires a driver's license number, which Veronica's provided; although, it was unnecessary for the nonprofit to photocopy it. Naturalization certificates are rarely, if ever, needed for identification to register to vote. By copying Veronica's certificate without her knowledge that the group was not affiliated with USCIS, New Americans Workgroup possibly violated federal law.

New Americans Workgroup and Its Comrades

The address of the office building listed on the flyer is home to the nonprofit Bridging the Gap Project, which describes itself as a "one-stop" center for immigration issues on the Immigration Advocates Network. Veronica told Restoration News she used the entrance Bridging the Gap Project shares with a couple of non-immigration-related businesses.  

Bridging the Gap Project describes itself as a "one-stop" center for immigration issues on the Immigration Advocates Network.

New Americans Workgroup, however, is part of a different organization, ProGeorgia. This organization describes itself as "a permanent coalition of 61 civic engagement and advocacy organizations providing voting access and representation in our democracy for all." 

Charity Navigator lists ProGeorgia's address at the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) USA headquarters in downtown Atlanta. This means Bridging the Gap Project likely allowed New Americans Workgroup use its headquarters. 

New Americans Workgroup is not new to this game. 

Another organization that claims to help new citizens adjust, New American Pathways (NAP), touted its collaboration with New Americans Workgroup in 2016, along with LWV and others, to register new Americans in Georgia. NAP is located just a mile away from USCIS. 

In 2017, NAP stated, "we work to register new American voters not only at community events but at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Naturalization Ceremonies." 

That year, NAP also partnered with groups such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) through phone banking and door-to-door canvassing to ensure new American communities were aware of local elections and voted. 

From 2010–2023, NAP received six grants from the Department of Health and Human Services for refugee and immigrant integration purposes totaling $3,660,000. The Department of Labor even recommends the organization in its "Catalog of Employment and Training Programs Serving New Americans" for NAP's eight-month "leadership development program" on "civic engagement and community organizing."

(RELATED: Leftists Want Partisan Groups to Run our Elections)

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

To the casual observer, it would seem these organizations simply want to do their part to help new citizens participate fully in American civic life. But these groups' private funding and partnerships betray their true motivation—reinforcing the Left's coalition with new voters.

For instance, those 61 civic engagement and advocacy organizations Pro-Georgia lists are all far left on the political spectrum. 

NAP is an affiliate of Church World Service, an organization originally founded to provide temporary aid to struggling Europeans recovering from World War II. Today, it focuses on fighting against fossil fuels and resettling immigrants with Americans' tax dollars.

AAJC is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Proteus Fund, which bankroll left-wing causes. Its president, John C. Yang, is a former Senior Advisor for the U.S. Commerce Department under former President Barack Obama's administration. On policy, AAJC has compared Asian-themed Halloween costumes to hate crimes. It also toes the leftist line on affirmative action, although it hurts Americans of Asian descent more than any other group. Along with other leftist organizations to implement former President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14019 “Promoting Access to Voting,” an underhanded scheme to use tax dollars to get-out-the-vote for likely Democrat voters.

ProGeorgia itself is the Georgia-based affiliate of the State Voices Network, one of the biggest get-out-the-vote networks the Left runs. It’s also funded by the most notorious mega donors in the leftist nonprofit world, including George Soros's Open Society Foundations (OSF). 

In 2014, ProGeorgia was fiscally sponsored by Georgia WAND Education Fund, a feminist nuclear disarmament group founded during the Cold War. It has since received money from the Tides Foundation and the Sixteen Thirty Fund—the latter part of the Arabella Advisors "dark money" network, also funded by OSF.

On policy, ProGeorgia aims to "move toward racial equity by creating a more representative democracy," where nonwhites have governmental representation equal to their population—a form of government foreign to both American democracy and the U.S. Constitution.

Through "civic engagement work," it hopes to achieve "racial, economic, and gender equity in Georgia," seeking to "center resolving historical disparities created by white supremacy, colorism, gender-bias[,] and classism."

Voter Data Harvesting

Veronica's experience reflects a broader strategy among leftist nonprofits to exploit naturalization ceremonies—or any event with new potential voters—to harvest voter data. 

The LWV, for instance, has a questionably legal record of doing this with high school students it pressures to register. Although it would be too risky to openly proselytize these new voters during registration drives, keeping their private information on file achieves the same end more strategically. These seemingly civic engagement charities can then pass the information to their voter mobilization pals who use it to get out the vote for causes and candidates that align with their leftist values.

WAND's 990 states that ProGeorgia has "made several grants to local partners to conduct voter education, registration, and mobilization activities for non-partisan purposes." ProGeorgia's Google Review page notably has a 1.9 rating, with most negative reviewers accusing it of sending unsolicited texts about voting.

The new USCIS policy aims to curb nonprofits' abuses under the guise of civic engagement, but New Americans Workgroup's next-door ambushes expose a loophole. The federal government must strengthen enforcement, perhaps by prohibiting solicitation on or near USCIS property and imposing penalties for official document copying without informed consent. 

Naturalized citizens, often still navigating language and cultural barriers, deserve a nonpartisan introduction to voting in the U.S. by local officials barred from persuasion or data sharing. As the 2026 midterms approach, these tactics highlight how liberal nonprofits will use any deception and loophole possible to weaponize "civic charity" to tilt electoral outcomes and pad the voting numbers for unpopular policies. 

(READ MORE: ROAF is Helping Legal Immigrants Achieve the Dream—Becoming American Citizens)