Public Safety, Not Just Elections, at Risk from Freed Felons

Last Friday, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe unilaterally made 200,000 paroled felons eligible to vote in this Fall’s election. They’re expected overwhelmingly to vote Democratic. As a result, he could well skew the outcome in his state.

Republicans are screaming foul. Yet, a number of them are pushing for federal legislation that would result in the early release of tens of thousands more felons. One is House Speaker Paul Ryan. And he reportedly will push to have this bill considered soon.

Unfortunately, problematic as these felons’ future votes may be for the GOP and the country, of immediate concern is the impact of their release on public safety. That is especially so since a significant proportion of those getting out early will be prison converts to Islamic supremacism and its jihad.

This may be a bipartisan mistake, but it’s still a mistake.